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Out of bounds - Sombs - 04-23-2018
March 14th, 825 - Location unknown
![[Image: 76wtr0w.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/76wtr0w.gif)
Fire and smoke corrupted the air on the bridge. It was hardly breathable, yet the few people had no other option. Ezrael's lungs were hurting and he felt the desperate need to cough over and over again as he woke up. His eyes opened quickly, his head hurt, everything he saw was blurry. Flashing lights, sounds of fire. The smell was weird, and for a moment he thought he had to relive the vivid hell of being burned alive again, but he felt his flesh and bones. Everything was where it used to be. Nothing was burned, yet. He lay on the metal floor and it was hot, heating up further and further from the fire around him. What happened?
Something went horribly, horribly wrong.
There were voices. What was going on? It was hard to get a grip on the situation, but with each second, Ezrael regained his senses. "Damage report..." Ezrael sounded, barely with voice as the smoke in his body weakened it severely. How long was he laying on the ground? He looked around, still only blurred vision but he saw something approaching him. It was a human body.
"The Captain regained consciousness!" It was Sherry. Her voice was just as strained as his was, but still strong. "Aguilar to medical, the Captain is alive but needs help. Send a medical bot here for transport, I'll pull him to the corridor!" Just as she said that, he felt a pull at his arm, as she did as she said. He didn't understand what was happening but a few moments later, he found himself in the bridge deck corridor, close to the door to his own room. There were other people sitting on the ground, some unconscious, some awake.
Another few moments later, the air became easier to breathe. Finding himself sitting on the ground with the back to the wall, he felt clean oxygen entering his body as a medical robot placed a breathing mask on his face. He didn't even realize what had happened in that moment. But now it was getting better and he saw his bridge officers around him. The door to the bridge was closed and sealed and Commander Sherry Aguilar stood infront of it, looking at her PDA. Then Ezrael looked to the side and saw something that made him wonder. Three bodies covered by blankets. Entirely. The blankets were dirty. Bloody. "Are those..." He cought. Pointing with a finger in the direction of the blankets, he looked over to Sherry who gave him a firm, neutral look.
"Darrel, Veronica and Rafael. We also lost Boone, Wheeler, Bockmeyer and Vaughn. George, Tasha and Collin are in critical conditions in medical bay. Everyone else is suffering only minimal injuries." Ezrael looked at her hands. Her suit was covered in dust and blood, painting the black and blue into grey and red. Her hair was loosely tied up, single strands hanging stray around. Remains of blood and sweat and dust were on her face, though the blood was not her own. "Sensors are offline, shields are currently working. Weapons are destroyed, engines are offline. Life support is critical and damage control is at 90%. Hull breaches on multiple decks, fires and atmospheric leaks as well. And we don't know where we are."
"Did we lose the bridge?" he asked her quietly.
"Currently, yes. I ordered Apahanta to remove all air from the bridge to stop the fires and prevent them from spreading further. After that we can start with the repairs, and find out where we are right now. We need to return to the closest shipyard as soon as possible. How do you feel, though, Captain?" She stepped closer to him, kneeling down infront of him to push his eyelids open, to see his eyes. It slightly discomforted him since her gloves were dirty, smelling like ashes.
"Nothing serious, at least it seems like I didn't lose a limb or something," he returned, weakly pushing her hands away. "How much time did pass?"
"Just a few minutes," she answered, still looking at his eyes. Only now he realized she was shaking. "The crew needs the Captain now, Ezrael. It's a wonder we're not dead yet. You need to say something. Please."
Slightly weirded out by her words, he looked up into her eyes. She was shaking, her eyes were wet and her face covered in the blood of casualties. He never saw this before, but it was evident she was refering to herself as well when mentioning the crew. "Don't worry. The Captain is here."
Something went horribly, horribly wrong.
There were voices. What was going on? It was hard to get a grip on the situation, but with each second, Ezrael regained his senses. "Damage report..." Ezrael sounded, barely with voice as the smoke in his body weakened it severely. How long was he laying on the ground? He looked around, still only blurred vision but he saw something approaching him. It was a human body.
"The Captain regained consciousness!" It was Sherry. Her voice was just as strained as his was, but still strong. "Aguilar to medical, the Captain is alive but needs help. Send a medical bot here for transport, I'll pull him to the corridor!" Just as she said that, he felt a pull at his arm, as she did as she said. He didn't understand what was happening but a few moments later, he found himself in the bridge deck corridor, close to the door to his own room. There were other people sitting on the ground, some unconscious, some awake.
Another few moments later, the air became easier to breathe. Finding himself sitting on the ground with the back to the wall, he felt clean oxygen entering his body as a medical robot placed a breathing mask on his face. He didn't even realize what had happened in that moment. But now it was getting better and he saw his bridge officers around him. The door to the bridge was closed and sealed and Commander Sherry Aguilar stood infront of it, looking at her PDA. Then Ezrael looked to the side and saw something that made him wonder. Three bodies covered by blankets. Entirely. The blankets were dirty. Bloody. "Are those..." He cought. Pointing with a finger in the direction of the blankets, he looked over to Sherry who gave him a firm, neutral look.
"Darrel, Veronica and Rafael. We also lost Boone, Wheeler, Bockmeyer and Vaughn. George, Tasha and Collin are in critical conditions in medical bay. Everyone else is suffering only minimal injuries." Ezrael looked at her hands. Her suit was covered in dust and blood, painting the black and blue into grey and red. Her hair was loosely tied up, single strands hanging stray around. Remains of blood and sweat and dust were on her face, though the blood was not her own. "Sensors are offline, shields are currently working. Weapons are destroyed, engines are offline. Life support is critical and damage control is at 90%. Hull breaches on multiple decks, fires and atmospheric leaks as well. And we don't know where we are."
"Did we lose the bridge?" he asked her quietly.
"Currently, yes. I ordered Apahanta to remove all air from the bridge to stop the fires and prevent them from spreading further. After that we can start with the repairs, and find out where we are right now. We need to return to the closest shipyard as soon as possible. How do you feel, though, Captain?" She stepped closer to him, kneeling down infront of him to push his eyelids open, to see his eyes. It slightly discomforted him since her gloves were dirty, smelling like ashes.
"Nothing serious, at least it seems like I didn't lose a limb or something," he returned, weakly pushing her hands away. "How much time did pass?"
"Just a few minutes," she answered, still looking at his eyes. Only now he realized she was shaking. "The crew needs the Captain now, Ezrael. It's a wonder we're not dead yet. You need to say something. Please."
Slightly weirded out by her words, he looked up into her eyes. She was shaking, her eyes were wet and her face covered in the blood of casualties. He never saw this before, but it was evident she was refering to herself as well when mentioning the crew. "Don't worry. The Captain is here."
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 04-24-2018
March 14th, 825 Day 1 - Location unknown
![[Image: lQ1jlGl.png]](https://i.imgur.com/lQ1jlGl.png)
The bridge looked like a mess. Burned cables and metal platings all over the place. Parts of the ceiling and the walls were loose, dirty or on the floor. Consoles demolished by electric discharges or collisions with other debris. Ezrael looked around, taking in the view with his arms folded infront of his chest. "Does the main screen still work? I want some visuals first," the Captain sounded, eyeing his seat. One of the few things that could have easily caught on fire, yet it was one of the few things that remained unharmed, apart from a layer of dirt and dust. Walking towards it, he sat down, feeling a mix of comfort and discomfort. The main screen was black, then gained some color. There were some dead pixels along a split in the physical monitor, however anything else was working as usual. The screen went black again, however. "Apahanta, please put the frontal view on the main screen."
"That is the frontal view, Captain." Sherry stepped to his side, not sitting down but instead remaining standing, her hands hidden behind her back. "The optical cameras are working on most parts of the ship. I just checked it."
"I see no stars," Ezrael commented the view.
"Maybe there are no stars, Ezrael."
Blinking, he glanced over to her, then back to the screen. "Apahanta, please put a threehundred-sixty degree optical scan from the outer hull cameras on the main screen." A second later, the ship carried out his order. Ezrael stood up again, walking a few steps closer to the main screen, staring at it. "No stars, but a giant black hole. How close are we? Apahanta, please put a visual on screen describing the proximity of the Apahanta to that black hole."
But the ship didn't do as he asked. Sherry moved once more to his side, taking in the view. "We only have the cameras right now. All other sensors are offline." After taking a deep breath, she continued. "If we were too close to it, we would be dead already. The intense gravitational forces would have ripped our bodies apart in one single moment."
"Does this mean we see no stars because the gravitational forces suck up the light of the surrounding stars?" he asked her.
"Possible," she returned, shaking her head slightly. "But extremely unlikely. We still would see something, as the photons don't just disappear but are just heading for the black hole. We would see bent light. But we don't see anything but the black hole. If - with emphasis on the word - our known laws of physics apply here, I would guess we have blindjumped into deep space. And with that I mean very deep space. However, we would need to use the sensors to get a better grip on this. We are close to a black hole, somewhere. We don't know yet if common physical laws apply here, or to what degree. We need to understand the situation here." She then noticed his questioning look towards her.
"I agree wholeheartedly with your explanation," the Captain said quietly, signaling he was a simple biologist. "What do you suggest should be done first? Sensors, engines and life-support, I guess?"
"Yes. And we need to make sure the shields are holding. So those sub-systems should have highest priority." She turned towards him. "I think I don't need to tell you, but especially right now we need to act as leaders. The crew is counting on us. If we show any sign of defeat, it will negatively impact on the crew's morale. We need them focused, Captain."
Smirking, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm doing this for two years now, Sherry. I told you not to worry. That is an order."
"That is the frontal view, Captain." Sherry stepped to his side, not sitting down but instead remaining standing, her hands hidden behind her back. "The optical cameras are working on most parts of the ship. I just checked it."
"I see no stars," Ezrael commented the view.
"Maybe there are no stars, Ezrael."
Blinking, he glanced over to her, then back to the screen. "Apahanta, please put a threehundred-sixty degree optical scan from the outer hull cameras on the main screen." A second later, the ship carried out his order. Ezrael stood up again, walking a few steps closer to the main screen, staring at it. "No stars, but a giant black hole. How close are we? Apahanta, please put a visual on screen describing the proximity of the Apahanta to that black hole."
But the ship didn't do as he asked. Sherry moved once more to his side, taking in the view. "We only have the cameras right now. All other sensors are offline." After taking a deep breath, she continued. "If we were too close to it, we would be dead already. The intense gravitational forces would have ripped our bodies apart in one single moment."
"Does this mean we see no stars because the gravitational forces suck up the light of the surrounding stars?" he asked her.
"Possible," she returned, shaking her head slightly. "But extremely unlikely. We still would see something, as the photons don't just disappear but are just heading for the black hole. We would see bent light. But we don't see anything but the black hole. If - with emphasis on the word - our known laws of physics apply here, I would guess we have blindjumped into deep space. And with that I mean very deep space. However, we would need to use the sensors to get a better grip on this. We are close to a black hole, somewhere. We don't know yet if common physical laws apply here, or to what degree. We need to understand the situation here." She then noticed his questioning look towards her.
"I agree wholeheartedly with your explanation," the Captain said quietly, signaling he was a simple biologist. "What do you suggest should be done first? Sensors, engines and life-support, I guess?"
"Yes. And we need to make sure the shields are holding. So those sub-systems should have highest priority." She turned towards him. "I think I don't need to tell you, but especially right now we need to act as leaders. The crew is counting on us. If we show any sign of defeat, it will negatively impact on the crew's morale. We need them focused, Captain."
Smirking, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm doing this for two years now, Sherry. I told you not to worry. That is an order."
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 04-25-2018
Day 1 - Location unknown
![[Image: ij9M4rJ.png]](https://i.imgur.com/ij9M4rJ.png)
"Alright, people, so the situation is as following.
We blindjumped into an area we currently can't identify. There are no stars around us, and the only stellar body we know about is this giant black hole. It appears we're not yet affected by it in a harming way, otherwise we would be dead already, so do not worry about it for now. We have lost Darrel Hodges, Veronica Cummings, Rafael Glover, Kevin Boone, Kyle Wheeler, Insa Bockmeyer, Cedric Vaughn, Collin Bush and George Poole. Tasha Wright is heavily injured but Dr. Carr managed to stabilize her." There was a short break before he continued. "The Apahanta took heavy damage from the fight with the Cultist VS-0074. Most systems are either offline or only barely functioning. Commander Aguilar already published the current repair orders, we will start with the sensors, then the engines, then life-support, then everything else. Truth being told, we won't be able to repair the ship completely without a shipyard. We probably don't even have enough spare parts to do much more than very basic repairs on the fly. The priorities are set to ensure we buy ourselves more time, enabling us to scan our surroundings to get a general idea of this system's layout and contents, and to get us further away from the black hole, for self-explanatory reasons.
The situation never looked as grim as it does now. We lost good people. Not just crew members, but friends, and to most of us, members of the family. But this is not over yet. We are still in danger. We can't rest yet. We now need each other, to work as a unit. To survive this horrible situation. To bring us home without further losses. Together.
All those who can help with the repairs, stick to the prioritized things. Everyone else, try to help the others by cleaning up the ship. There are debris everywhere. We need clear paths and access to all important parts of the ship." Another break.
"I'll get us home, people. I promise it."
The hangar was the last place Ezrael expected to find his best friend, Chief Engineer Leon Isley, however the ship's AI informed him about him being here. Matter of factly, the young blonde sat ontop of the nose of the Handsome Rover, the black Jitano the Apahanta always kept with it as a scout drone. A flashing light was emitted by the welding tool as a Kishiro Service Robot unmounted one of the weapons of the drone. Not noticing the Captain, Leon twitched in surprise when Ezrael announced his presence. "Hey fuckboy!"
"Captain," Leon simply returned, only gifting Ezrael with a second of a glance before watching the robots working again.
"Ouh, formal," Ezrael mumbled quietly, following the Chief Engineer's look. "What's this?"
Sighing, Leon took his blue shield glasses off, raking his gloved fingers through his blond hair. "Unmounting the peashooters to mount makeshift repair tools."
"Ah, I see." the Captain returned. "The Commander's idea, I guess?"
"No, mine. The Commander wanted me to do something else, but with the Rover we can speed up things considerably. And we can repair the sensor array from outside, which is something we shouldn't do if we are close to a giant radiation source such as a black hole. Right now, we're protected by the shields. As soon as they fail, the radiation could be harmful to us. Like the Omicron Sigma black hole, or the one in Omicron Phi. Our EVA-suits can deal with cosmic background radiation and maybe some Omicron-typical anomalies, but we don't know anything about this anomaly out there and how close we are or how big it is. We had one guy who could have told us just by looking at it, but he died on medical bay."
Ezrael looked up, away from the robots and over to Leon, who stared at the Captain. It was a look he knew. Leon was angry, at him. Taking a deep breath, Ezrael made another step closer towards the Handsome Rover, for the moment avoiding eye contact with Leon. "I understand you're unhappy with the current situation, Leon. I'm just glad you're alive, you know."
"Yes, I am alive. For now. Many others are dead. Because of you. You and your constant desire for adventures and playing the hero! Half of the crew is dead and you marsh in here with your sunny mood and your self-centered smirk while I sit here, somewhere in the nowhere, next to a black hole on a wreck of a ship that was already barely working with a skeletal crew, following the orders of some hedonistic idiot, and I try to repair the horrible damage that was caused by your decision to jump into a battle that was not ours, hoping I'm not the next one who dies as a result of your incompetence!" Shaking and exhaling heated, Leon's face got slightly red from the anger. Ezrael however just glanced at him, blinking. Remembering the last time Leon was angry at him, he was glad there were a good amount of meters between them, as otherwise Leon would have punched him, which would have lead to him knocking Leon out. That would have slowed down the repairs considerably.
"You can hit me once we're back home as often as you want," Ezrael returned in a calm but firm way. "The crew has full trust in your capabilities as Chief Engineer. If you need anything, just tell anyone to bring it to you." Looking around for the moment, Ezrael inhaled audibly before turning around to leave the Chief Engineer alone.
Watching the Captain leave, Leon put on his shield glasses again, trying to calm down again. Then he turned to his side. Not far away from him sat a young woman. Annie Reese, a mainenance technician of the ship. Ezrael wasn't able to see her there, yet she heard everything. Eyeing Leon for a few seconds, she said nothing. Just like he did as he continued to work.
We blindjumped into an area we currently can't identify. There are no stars around us, and the only stellar body we know about is this giant black hole. It appears we're not yet affected by it in a harming way, otherwise we would be dead already, so do not worry about it for now. We have lost Darrel Hodges, Veronica Cummings, Rafael Glover, Kevin Boone, Kyle Wheeler, Insa Bockmeyer, Cedric Vaughn, Collin Bush and George Poole. Tasha Wright is heavily injured but Dr. Carr managed to stabilize her." There was a short break before he continued. "The Apahanta took heavy damage from the fight with the Cultist VS-0074. Most systems are either offline or only barely functioning. Commander Aguilar already published the current repair orders, we will start with the sensors, then the engines, then life-support, then everything else. Truth being told, we won't be able to repair the ship completely without a shipyard. We probably don't even have enough spare parts to do much more than very basic repairs on the fly. The priorities are set to ensure we buy ourselves more time, enabling us to scan our surroundings to get a general idea of this system's layout and contents, and to get us further away from the black hole, for self-explanatory reasons.
The situation never looked as grim as it does now. We lost good people. Not just crew members, but friends, and to most of us, members of the family. But this is not over yet. We are still in danger. We can't rest yet. We now need each other, to work as a unit. To survive this horrible situation. To bring us home without further losses. Together.
All those who can help with the repairs, stick to the prioritized things. Everyone else, try to help the others by cleaning up the ship. There are debris everywhere. We need clear paths and access to all important parts of the ship." Another break.
"I'll get us home, people. I promise it."
The hangar was the last place Ezrael expected to find his best friend, Chief Engineer Leon Isley, however the ship's AI informed him about him being here. Matter of factly, the young blonde sat ontop of the nose of the Handsome Rover, the black Jitano the Apahanta always kept with it as a scout drone. A flashing light was emitted by the welding tool as a Kishiro Service Robot unmounted one of the weapons of the drone. Not noticing the Captain, Leon twitched in surprise when Ezrael announced his presence. "Hey fuckboy!"
"Captain," Leon simply returned, only gifting Ezrael with a second of a glance before watching the robots working again.
"Ouh, formal," Ezrael mumbled quietly, following the Chief Engineer's look. "What's this?"
Sighing, Leon took his blue shield glasses off, raking his gloved fingers through his blond hair. "Unmounting the peashooters to mount makeshift repair tools."
"Ah, I see." the Captain returned. "The Commander's idea, I guess?"
"No, mine. The Commander wanted me to do something else, but with the Rover we can speed up things considerably. And we can repair the sensor array from outside, which is something we shouldn't do if we are close to a giant radiation source such as a black hole. Right now, we're protected by the shields. As soon as they fail, the radiation could be harmful to us. Like the Omicron Sigma black hole, or the one in Omicron Phi. Our EVA-suits can deal with cosmic background radiation and maybe some Omicron-typical anomalies, but we don't know anything about this anomaly out there and how close we are or how big it is. We had one guy who could have told us just by looking at it, but he died on medical bay."
Ezrael looked up, away from the robots and over to Leon, who stared at the Captain. It was a look he knew. Leon was angry, at him. Taking a deep breath, Ezrael made another step closer towards the Handsome Rover, for the moment avoiding eye contact with Leon. "I understand you're unhappy with the current situation, Leon. I'm just glad you're alive, you know."
"Yes, I am alive. For now. Many others are dead. Because of you. You and your constant desire for adventures and playing the hero! Half of the crew is dead and you marsh in here with your sunny mood and your self-centered smirk while I sit here, somewhere in the nowhere, next to a black hole on a wreck of a ship that was already barely working with a skeletal crew, following the orders of some hedonistic idiot, and I try to repair the horrible damage that was caused by your decision to jump into a battle that was not ours, hoping I'm not the next one who dies as a result of your incompetence!" Shaking and exhaling heated, Leon's face got slightly red from the anger. Ezrael however just glanced at him, blinking. Remembering the last time Leon was angry at him, he was glad there were a good amount of meters between them, as otherwise Leon would have punched him, which would have lead to him knocking Leon out. That would have slowed down the repairs considerably.
"You can hit me once we're back home as often as you want," Ezrael returned in a calm but firm way. "The crew has full trust in your capabilities as Chief Engineer. If you need anything, just tell anyone to bring it to you." Looking around for the moment, Ezrael inhaled audibly before turning around to leave the Chief Engineer alone.
Watching the Captain leave, Leon put on his shield glasses again, trying to calm down again. Then he turned to his side. Not far away from him sat a young woman. Annie Reese, a mainenance technician of the ship. Ezrael wasn't able to see her there, yet she heard everything. Eyeing Leon for a few seconds, she said nothing. Just like he did as he continued to work.
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 04-27-2018
Day 1 - Location unknown
![[Image: T2DTEZk.png]](https://i.imgur.com/T2DTEZk.png)
The white lights of the corridors have changed to blue ones, as they did every time the Apahanta entered the night cycle. Only few people were still awake now, and one of them was Ezrael, who walked through the corridors of the bridge deck to reach him room, next to the bridge. Having helped with the repairs where it was possible to him, he was quite tired by now. Mind-absent, he entered his room, just to get surprised by the sudden embrace of Sombra. With big eyes he looked down at her shoulder while she was slung around his body, and gently he placed his hands on her back. Other than himself, she smelt nicely and looked clean, while he had the scent of oil, fire and dirt on him.
"I for-" he mumbled, stopping himself from voicing the thought. He had forgotten about her. She was visiting him and Leon before the attack of VS-0074 in Delta and had since then stayed in his room. And now she was caught here with the others. His grip on her tightened.
"It's okay, I'm fine. The ship told me you're fine as well, so I used the time to clean up your room," she returned, rubbing her cheek slightly against his shoulder. "I heard your announcement and thought about the entire situation and how I could help and such."
"You should let go of me, I probably smell horrible," Ezrael sounded quietly, taking his hands off her back, however she didn't loosen the embrace a single bit. For a moment, there was silence. "It's okay, Sombs. We're not dead, and I don't plan on changing it."
"You lost half of your crew, the ship is in a critical condition, you probably got hurt as well and still helped with the repairs until now. You're exhausted, aren't you." It was less of a question. She let go of him, making a step back to look at him. Smears of dry blood were on his suit, especially at his gloves. "Come, I'll clean you."
Not resisting, Ezrael allowed the young woman with the thick black hair to take his hand and lead him to the bathroom. His body felt heavy, and there was not too much time until he was expected to be on his feet again. However, he had to shower anyways, and letting Sombra lead for now was some sort of comfort. Their Apahanta suits dropped to the ground, followed by their underwear. A minute later, steam emerged in the bathroom as hot water rained down onto their bodies. Leaning his back against the tiled wall of the shower stall, the Captain closed his eyes, feeling the gentle movements of Sombra on his skin. It reminded him of easier times on Curacao. It reminded him of Maren.
Maren!
How would she deal with this? He wanted to propose to her, but when she arrived at Livadia, she must have been waiting for him for hours, only to find out the Apahanta was not even in the Omicrons anymore. She was probably mad at him. For now, until she would realize he wouldn't be around for a longer time. How long would that time be?
The thought was interrupted by Sombra, who had her hands between his legs, rubbing a sponge against his private parts, who reacted to the stimulation. "Hello Ezrael," she said with a smirk, looking at his eyes while continuing.
"I'm tired, Sombs," he just returned, closing his eyes again. There was no time for this. "I need to be up in a few hours."
Nodding in understanding, she kneeled down infront of him to clean his legs and his feet. Only for a moment Ezrael wondered about this situation. Maren probably would have given him some sassy and funny comments right now. Something he loved about her. Sombra however remained silent, which was nice as well. She knew him for years and she knew when to be silent. She knew there was nothing to say to convey comfort. No solace for him right now. People died because of his decision as captain. Something Ezrael and Sombra were used to was comforting each other just by being there for another. Something Maren probably didn't understand, Ezrael thought, since she never had this kind of social support.
Now, Maren was alone again. With their cat, Mittens. Hopefully she wouldn't forget to feed him, Ezrael thought. Pictures of Maren and Mittens were in his head, and he forget the time in these thoughts. Would he see them ever again? Once again Ezrael had faced death. The fourth time in this year, and he was still facing it. This time, death had the form of a giant black hole. And he didn't know anything about it yet.
The sound of water rushing to the ground stopped, the shower stall was opened by Sombra, who fetched towels, just to come back and start rubbing Ezrael dry, being more gentle this time between his legs. "Any estimates on the sensors?" Sombra asked while wrapping a towel around his lower body, just to proceed with herself.
Ezrael looked at her with a certain surprise, as the question dragged him back into sober reality. "The KSRs are doing the job over night. Leon is still awake, operating the makeshift repair drone we turned the Handsome Rover into. So the sensor array should be working again somewhen tomorrow in the morning, according to him."
"And then we can tell why we are not dead while being so close to a black hole," she said quietly, smiling however. "Maybe we're just on the other side of Omicron Sigma. Nobody ever travelled behind that black hole to tell how the area looks there."
"In that case we would see some stars in the background and probably the great nebulae. Here we don't see anything but the black hole. You're right, there might be some spatial interference blocking our view, though. We'll see more once we have the sensors back online."
They left the shower stall, finding themselves infront of the sink, where they could see themselves in the mirrors. Sombra smiled at the view. Both of them with wet black hair and well-trained bodies, naked. "I haven't seen us like that in a long time, Ez," she said quietly, nodding at the mirrow with a shy smirk. "Things were so much easier on Curacao." Without Maren.
"They will be easy again once I brought us home," Ezrael returned, looking at them in the mirror with a firm glance.
"No, they won't." She kept her smile on the lips. "Things will never get easier, but at least we have each other."
He looked at the eyes of her reflection, who met his eyes. Often he saw her as naive, sometimes even annoying, but thinking about it, she was right. They helped each other in any situation. She was always loyal to him, even when he left Curacao for the Core, met Maren and started to live with her. Wrapping his arms around her from behind, he pecked the back of her head. Usually he disliked seeing himself with wet hair, but there was something to the view of them he just had. Nevertheless, there was this little wish of Maren being around. As he caught himself thinking of her, he shrugged. "Apahanta, please turn on the blowdryers." And hot air streamed down to them from the ceiling. A soothing feeling on the bare skin. Once more he closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of the air coupled with the warmth of Sombra infront of him. It was nice to have this, and he would miss it if this was not possible.
It reminded him of Leon, who was mad at him for a good reason, he thought. The poor guy was trapped in a nightmare. He hated space, and space battles, and in the heat Ezrael didn't even give him the chance to leave the ship in time. Under other circumstances, he would have let him stay on Livadia. On the other hand, it was a blessing to have him here, as he was the most talented engineer he knew. However, he was alone here. Nancy was on Curacao, probably waiting for him to come home. Now he was with the Apahanta, stranded at some black hole, doing everything he can to keep the ship in one piece. Yes, he had a very good reason to be mad at the Captain, his best friend, mentor and teacher.
The blowdryers turned off and the jetblack hair of Sombra and Ezrael was dry. A slightly fruity scent filled the air, originating from the curacaoan shower gel Sombra used on them. Dropping the towel, Ezrael left the bathroom and headed for the bed. He really needed to lay down now. His muscles felt sore, his feet were hurting. It felt like salvation when he lay on the soft matress, and even better when the young woman joined. Snuggling under the blanket, she lay at his side, her head on his shoulder. "To be honest, I was surprised when I saw this bigger bed in your room. I always thought you didn't want to make it more comfy in here."
"I realized I had to spend much time on my ship. The crew needs a captain and stuff, you know. So I thought a bigger bed would be a good idea in case I get visited by you or other women."
"It definitely is better than the military beds. Who are the other women, by the way? Nancy? Maren?" She pecked his neck.
"I want to sleep, Sombs. We can talk another time about that." Elena, Sherry, Victoria, the list of affairs is getting longer and longer, Ezrael thought. "Good night, Sombs."
"Good night, Ez," she sounded quietly, audibly content. She was happy. The only happy person on the ship...
"I for-" he mumbled, stopping himself from voicing the thought. He had forgotten about her. She was visiting him and Leon before the attack of VS-0074 in Delta and had since then stayed in his room. And now she was caught here with the others. His grip on her tightened.
"It's okay, I'm fine. The ship told me you're fine as well, so I used the time to clean up your room," she returned, rubbing her cheek slightly against his shoulder. "I heard your announcement and thought about the entire situation and how I could help and such."
"You should let go of me, I probably smell horrible," Ezrael sounded quietly, taking his hands off her back, however she didn't loosen the embrace a single bit. For a moment, there was silence. "It's okay, Sombs. We're not dead, and I don't plan on changing it."
"You lost half of your crew, the ship is in a critical condition, you probably got hurt as well and still helped with the repairs until now. You're exhausted, aren't you." It was less of a question. She let go of him, making a step back to look at him. Smears of dry blood were on his suit, especially at his gloves. "Come, I'll clean you."
Not resisting, Ezrael allowed the young woman with the thick black hair to take his hand and lead him to the bathroom. His body felt heavy, and there was not too much time until he was expected to be on his feet again. However, he had to shower anyways, and letting Sombra lead for now was some sort of comfort. Their Apahanta suits dropped to the ground, followed by their underwear. A minute later, steam emerged in the bathroom as hot water rained down onto their bodies. Leaning his back against the tiled wall of the shower stall, the Captain closed his eyes, feeling the gentle movements of Sombra on his skin. It reminded him of easier times on Curacao. It reminded him of Maren.
Maren!
How would she deal with this? He wanted to propose to her, but when she arrived at Livadia, she must have been waiting for him for hours, only to find out the Apahanta was not even in the Omicrons anymore. She was probably mad at him. For now, until she would realize he wouldn't be around for a longer time. How long would that time be?
The thought was interrupted by Sombra, who had her hands between his legs, rubbing a sponge against his private parts, who reacted to the stimulation. "Hello Ezrael," she said with a smirk, looking at his eyes while continuing.
"I'm tired, Sombs," he just returned, closing his eyes again. There was no time for this. "I need to be up in a few hours."
Nodding in understanding, she kneeled down infront of him to clean his legs and his feet. Only for a moment Ezrael wondered about this situation. Maren probably would have given him some sassy and funny comments right now. Something he loved about her. Sombra however remained silent, which was nice as well. She knew him for years and she knew when to be silent. She knew there was nothing to say to convey comfort. No solace for him right now. People died because of his decision as captain. Something Ezrael and Sombra were used to was comforting each other just by being there for another. Something Maren probably didn't understand, Ezrael thought, since she never had this kind of social support.
Now, Maren was alone again. With their cat, Mittens. Hopefully she wouldn't forget to feed him, Ezrael thought. Pictures of Maren and Mittens were in his head, and he forget the time in these thoughts. Would he see them ever again? Once again Ezrael had faced death. The fourth time in this year, and he was still facing it. This time, death had the form of a giant black hole. And he didn't know anything about it yet.
The sound of water rushing to the ground stopped, the shower stall was opened by Sombra, who fetched towels, just to come back and start rubbing Ezrael dry, being more gentle this time between his legs. "Any estimates on the sensors?" Sombra asked while wrapping a towel around his lower body, just to proceed with herself.
Ezrael looked at her with a certain surprise, as the question dragged him back into sober reality. "The KSRs are doing the job over night. Leon is still awake, operating the makeshift repair drone we turned the Handsome Rover into. So the sensor array should be working again somewhen tomorrow in the morning, according to him."
"And then we can tell why we are not dead while being so close to a black hole," she said quietly, smiling however. "Maybe we're just on the other side of Omicron Sigma. Nobody ever travelled behind that black hole to tell how the area looks there."
"In that case we would see some stars in the background and probably the great nebulae. Here we don't see anything but the black hole. You're right, there might be some spatial interference blocking our view, though. We'll see more once we have the sensors back online."
They left the shower stall, finding themselves infront of the sink, where they could see themselves in the mirrors. Sombra smiled at the view. Both of them with wet black hair and well-trained bodies, naked. "I haven't seen us like that in a long time, Ez," she said quietly, nodding at the mirrow with a shy smirk. "Things were so much easier on Curacao." Without Maren.
"They will be easy again once I brought us home," Ezrael returned, looking at them in the mirror with a firm glance.
"No, they won't." She kept her smile on the lips. "Things will never get easier, but at least we have each other."
He looked at the eyes of her reflection, who met his eyes. Often he saw her as naive, sometimes even annoying, but thinking about it, she was right. They helped each other in any situation. She was always loyal to him, even when he left Curacao for the Core, met Maren and started to live with her. Wrapping his arms around her from behind, he pecked the back of her head. Usually he disliked seeing himself with wet hair, but there was something to the view of them he just had. Nevertheless, there was this little wish of Maren being around. As he caught himself thinking of her, he shrugged. "Apahanta, please turn on the blowdryers." And hot air streamed down to them from the ceiling. A soothing feeling on the bare skin. Once more he closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of the air coupled with the warmth of Sombra infront of him. It was nice to have this, and he would miss it if this was not possible.
It reminded him of Leon, who was mad at him for a good reason, he thought. The poor guy was trapped in a nightmare. He hated space, and space battles, and in the heat Ezrael didn't even give him the chance to leave the ship in time. Under other circumstances, he would have let him stay on Livadia. On the other hand, it was a blessing to have him here, as he was the most talented engineer he knew. However, he was alone here. Nancy was on Curacao, probably waiting for him to come home. Now he was with the Apahanta, stranded at some black hole, doing everything he can to keep the ship in one piece. Yes, he had a very good reason to be mad at the Captain, his best friend, mentor and teacher.
The blowdryers turned off and the jetblack hair of Sombra and Ezrael was dry. A slightly fruity scent filled the air, originating from the curacaoan shower gel Sombra used on them. Dropping the towel, Ezrael left the bathroom and headed for the bed. He really needed to lay down now. His muscles felt sore, his feet were hurting. It felt like salvation when he lay on the soft matress, and even better when the young woman joined. Snuggling under the blanket, she lay at his side, her head on his shoulder. "To be honest, I was surprised when I saw this bigger bed in your room. I always thought you didn't want to make it more comfy in here."
"I realized I had to spend much time on my ship. The crew needs a captain and stuff, you know. So I thought a bigger bed would be a good idea in case I get visited by you or other women."
"It definitely is better than the military beds. Who are the other women, by the way? Nancy? Maren?" She pecked his neck.
"I want to sleep, Sombs. We can talk another time about that." Elena, Sherry, Victoria, the list of affairs is getting longer and longer, Ezrael thought. "Good night, Sombs."
"Good night, Ez," she sounded quietly, audibly content. She was happy. The only happy person on the ship...
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 04-27-2018
Day 2 - Location unknown
![[Image: 06JSBOT.png]](https://i.imgur.com/06JSBOT.png)
It was the morning of the next day, according to the Apahanta's internal clocks. Ezrael looked refreshed as he entered the cafeteria, wearing a new, clean Apahanta suit. The majority of the crew was here. Leon and Annie Reese were not, and Ezrael had a good idea about why, as they didn't stop working over night. Making his steps to the morning buffet, Sherry moved to his side, accompanying him as he started to gather his breakfast.
"Good morning, Captain. There are good and bad news waiting for you," she said quietly in a rather calm tone, keeping her neutral countenance.
Ezrael took his bun and grabbed a few fruits, then looked quickly at her. "I take it those news can't wait until I sit at a table?"
"The good news is that Isley and Reese managed to get the sensors online again, at an efficiency of 75%. We would need to construct the required spare parts to raise it to 100%, however since we currently have only limited resources, I told them to wait and focus on other things like the engines, which are currently still offline. They both are sleeping now, while the KSRs have been programmed with various tasks by them." the Commander explained, watching Ezrael filling milk into a glass.
Then he grabbed a few slices of cucumber and a tomato. "That sounds to me like this was the good news, Sherry."
He could hear her taking a deep breath before she said the next words. "The sensors are working well enough, Captain. It is out of question that they malfunction, even though they have a reduced range. However, the deep space sensors are picking up nothing. Nothing but the black hole. We can't see any stars or nebulae because there are none."
Taking his tray, Ezrael waited for a moment, wondering about the implications before he turned around to take his breakfast to one of the tables. Most of the crew sat at the same table, however, given the nature of the conversation, he and Sherry moved to another table at the corner of the room. Sherry sat down right next to him. "Any theories?"
"There are multiple theories that could be applied. One is that we are positioned in some sort of gravitational pocket that was created by us jumping into the gravity well of the black hole and protects us from forces that would otherwise affect us in a strong way. This could explain why we can't see anything, as light is bent around the pocket, however in that case we wouldn't be able to see the black hole either. The currently most reasonable theory is that we are simply not in Sirius anymore."
Ezrael looked slightly to the side, then back at his tray as he began to split his bun. "I thought the same last night. Could it be, though?"
"George Poole would have been able to tell us more about it, but he is dead, and I am not even remotely into the matter, however we know that ships have been jumping in three,
with Gallia four different areas: Sirius, Gallia, an unknown region called Lost Sector and Cassiopeia. Sirius and Gallia are, in comparison, extremely close to each other. So close that you can see each other's clusters and nebulae from the other region. It is different with the Lost Sector and Cassiopeia, which are merely known to exist, but very far away from Sirius, as stars and nebulae seen in those systems can't be recognized on any sirian star charts. The different alternatives to True-Space, which we use when travelling through jump holes, are said to be more attracted by those two regions than with any other region outside of Sirius and Gallia. A professor at the University of Cambridge even goes so far as to claim that this affinity was caused artificially by-"
"I'm a biologist, Sherry." Ezrael interrupted her while placing a slice of cheese on his bun, then a slice of Lyoner.
"Try to follow me here, Ezrael. Imagine something or someone caused Sirius and Gallia to be connected with other big regions of space via hyperspace or subspace or other dimensions above and below from True-Space. Like, a giant network an ancient species used to get from one part of their territory to another, just like the jump gates we use in the colonies, just on a way bigger scale. And now imagine one of those lanes is suddenly blocked somewhere in the middle of nowhere."
Sighing, Ezrael leaned a little back while grabbing his glass of milk. "I still don't get it."
"Ezrael, Jump Drives never lead into empty areas. They always follow ways in hyperspace that lead somewhere. The Apahanta did a few blind jumps and we always jumped into a solar system. There was always a sun, at least. You understand? Something with a gravitational pull. However, the blind jumps can also lead to areas outside of Sirius, which is why we once ended up in Gallia and once in an area that definitely was not a part of Sirius. But never in deep space. And always in some sort of stellar cluster. But this time we ended up in deep space, somewhere between Sirius and the target region, because something affected the hyperspace lane in a way that caused it to end. A gravitational force."
"A giant black hole. A stray one, that's what you imply?" Ezrael asked, taking a sip of his milk. Then he emptied the glass.
"That is the theory, Captain. One of many, however currently the most fitting one. We will need time to check the facts. Which leads me to the next topic. Time." She looked over to the table the crew was sitting at. They didn't look happy and were rather silent, only talking about the repairs while eating. Sometimes one of them glanced over to Captain and Commander. "Time is, as you know, affected by velocity and mass. On planets, time is passing a very, very little bit slower than in space, and Sirius is technically ticking half an hour faster than the core of the galaxy. We see no stars, meaning there is the chance we are no longer within our galaxy but somewhere outside, which means there is another time difference between us, where no mass is, and the area of the galaxy where Sirius is. With other words, it could be that we are aging faster than people in Sirius do. If that is true, that is. Another factor however is the black hole. Since it is a giant mass, it affects time the other way around, meaning we could also age way slower than people in Sirius do. At this point, we can't tell, since we have no idea where Sirius is and where we are. And, to be honest, Captain, this is also all theory and might also be filled with flaws. I'm no expert on this. Poole was."
"Poole is dead," Ezrael said quietly while observing the crew. "Listen, Sherry, this is all quite interesting, but it is probably very much lost on me. First of all we need to ensure our survival. I take it the black hole is not dangerous for us by now?"
The Commander inhaled deeply just to exhale it audibly. "According to the sensors, we are far enough away from the black hole to not get ripped apart from the gravitational forces. There is a radiation burst not too far away from us, but it won't reach us here. Technically, all we need to do is to bring the engines online to ensure we won't get pulled too much closer to the black hole, however we have days for that. The faster the better, though, which is why Isley wants to do that next."
"Good. That is good news." The bun was ready, however Ezrael chose to pick up his apple first. He smirked slightly at it, as it was one of the apples they grew on the Apahanta's apple tree in the hydroponics. The fruit was red and looked like it had tiny freckles. "Can we recreate the jump process to return to Sirius? I mean, we do have coordinates, right?"
As Ezrael bit in his apple, Sherry bit her lower lip slightly. "The blind jump to this location ate up the jump drive batteries. We can't jump anywhere, Captain."
Remaining quiet, Ezrael swallowed the bite and then stared at the apple. "So we are stuck here."
"Yes. We won't come home."
"Good morning, Captain. There are good and bad news waiting for you," she said quietly in a rather calm tone, keeping her neutral countenance.
Ezrael took his bun and grabbed a few fruits, then looked quickly at her. "I take it those news can't wait until I sit at a table?"
"The good news is that Isley and Reese managed to get the sensors online again, at an efficiency of 75%. We would need to construct the required spare parts to raise it to 100%, however since we currently have only limited resources, I told them to wait and focus on other things like the engines, which are currently still offline. They both are sleeping now, while the KSRs have been programmed with various tasks by them." the Commander explained, watching Ezrael filling milk into a glass.
Then he grabbed a few slices of cucumber and a tomato. "That sounds to me like this was the good news, Sherry."
He could hear her taking a deep breath before she said the next words. "The sensors are working well enough, Captain. It is out of question that they malfunction, even though they have a reduced range. However, the deep space sensors are picking up nothing. Nothing but the black hole. We can't see any stars or nebulae because there are none."
Taking his tray, Ezrael waited for a moment, wondering about the implications before he turned around to take his breakfast to one of the tables. Most of the crew sat at the same table, however, given the nature of the conversation, he and Sherry moved to another table at the corner of the room. Sherry sat down right next to him. "Any theories?"
"There are multiple theories that could be applied. One is that we are positioned in some sort of gravitational pocket that was created by us jumping into the gravity well of the black hole and protects us from forces that would otherwise affect us in a strong way. This could explain why we can't see anything, as light is bent around the pocket, however in that case we wouldn't be able to see the black hole either. The currently most reasonable theory is that we are simply not in Sirius anymore."
Ezrael looked slightly to the side, then back at his tray as he began to split his bun. "I thought the same last night. Could it be, though?"
"George Poole would have been able to tell us more about it, but he is dead, and I am not even remotely into the matter, however we know that ships have been jumping in three,
with Gallia four different areas: Sirius, Gallia, an unknown region called Lost Sector and Cassiopeia. Sirius and Gallia are, in comparison, extremely close to each other. So close that you can see each other's clusters and nebulae from the other region. It is different with the Lost Sector and Cassiopeia, which are merely known to exist, but very far away from Sirius, as stars and nebulae seen in those systems can't be recognized on any sirian star charts. The different alternatives to True-Space, which we use when travelling through jump holes, are said to be more attracted by those two regions than with any other region outside of Sirius and Gallia. A professor at the University of Cambridge even goes so far as to claim that this affinity was caused artificially by-"
"I'm a biologist, Sherry." Ezrael interrupted her while placing a slice of cheese on his bun, then a slice of Lyoner.
"Try to follow me here, Ezrael. Imagine something or someone caused Sirius and Gallia to be connected with other big regions of space via hyperspace or subspace or other dimensions above and below from True-Space. Like, a giant network an ancient species used to get from one part of their territory to another, just like the jump gates we use in the colonies, just on a way bigger scale. And now imagine one of those lanes is suddenly blocked somewhere in the middle of nowhere."
Sighing, Ezrael leaned a little back while grabbing his glass of milk. "I still don't get it."
"Ezrael, Jump Drives never lead into empty areas. They always follow ways in hyperspace that lead somewhere. The Apahanta did a few blind jumps and we always jumped into a solar system. There was always a sun, at least. You understand? Something with a gravitational pull. However, the blind jumps can also lead to areas outside of Sirius, which is why we once ended up in Gallia and once in an area that definitely was not a part of Sirius. But never in deep space. And always in some sort of stellar cluster. But this time we ended up in deep space, somewhere between Sirius and the target region, because something affected the hyperspace lane in a way that caused it to end. A gravitational force."
"A giant black hole. A stray one, that's what you imply?" Ezrael asked, taking a sip of his milk. Then he emptied the glass.
"That is the theory, Captain. One of many, however currently the most fitting one. We will need time to check the facts. Which leads me to the next topic. Time." She looked over to the table the crew was sitting at. They didn't look happy and were rather silent, only talking about the repairs while eating. Sometimes one of them glanced over to Captain and Commander. "Time is, as you know, affected by velocity and mass. On planets, time is passing a very, very little bit slower than in space, and Sirius is technically ticking half an hour faster than the core of the galaxy. We see no stars, meaning there is the chance we are no longer within our galaxy but somewhere outside, which means there is another time difference between us, where no mass is, and the area of the galaxy where Sirius is. With other words, it could be that we are aging faster than people in Sirius do. If that is true, that is. Another factor however is the black hole. Since it is a giant mass, it affects time the other way around, meaning we could also age way slower than people in Sirius do. At this point, we can't tell, since we have no idea where Sirius is and where we are. And, to be honest, Captain, this is also all theory and might also be filled with flaws. I'm no expert on this. Poole was."
"Poole is dead," Ezrael said quietly while observing the crew. "Listen, Sherry, this is all quite interesting, but it is probably very much lost on me. First of all we need to ensure our survival. I take it the black hole is not dangerous for us by now?"
The Commander inhaled deeply just to exhale it audibly. "According to the sensors, we are far enough away from the black hole to not get ripped apart from the gravitational forces. There is a radiation burst not too far away from us, but it won't reach us here. Technically, all we need to do is to bring the engines online to ensure we won't get pulled too much closer to the black hole, however we have days for that. The faster the better, though, which is why Isley wants to do that next."
"Good. That is good news." The bun was ready, however Ezrael chose to pick up his apple first. He smirked slightly at it, as it was one of the apples they grew on the Apahanta's apple tree in the hydroponics. The fruit was red and looked like it had tiny freckles. "Can we recreate the jump process to return to Sirius? I mean, we do have coordinates, right?"
As Ezrael bit in his apple, Sherry bit her lower lip slightly. "The blind jump to this location ate up the jump drive batteries. We can't jump anywhere, Captain."
Remaining quiet, Ezrael swallowed the bite and then stared at the apple. "So we are stuck here."
"Yes. We won't come home."
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 04-30-2018
Day 2 - Location unknown
![[Image: hY5sZcH.png]](https://i.imgur.com/hY5sZcH.png)
The remaining crew was gathered on bridge. A weird view, Ezrael thought. There were only so many left. Dr. Adrianna Carr, Core Engineer Jennifer Hauser, Botanist Tasha Wright, Technician Jeff Powell, Defense Officer Lorena Hawkins, Damage Control Engineer Brian Tate, Maintenance Engineer Annie Reese, Commander Sherry Aguilar, Diagnostic Engineer Asato Toru, Chief Engineer Leon Isley - and the Captain himself. This was all they had. All they had to work with. Eleven people. Eleven?
The door to the bridge opened and Sombra entered the big room in a hurry, joining the group at Leon's side. While she was technically not part of the crew, she was now trapped with them here at the black hole. Thus Ezrael provided her one of the Apahanta suits, and because she had no other clothes with her. Ezrael nodded at her in a welcoming way before he began to talk.
"Good morning, people. Some of you probably know it already, but here is the general situation.
We are, according to the sensors, in the spatial void between Sirius and another sector, very likely between two galaxies. We can see no other stars because there are none. There is nothing but this black hole. This means we are on our own. We are unable to jump back to Sirius because we don't have any jump drive batteries left. This means, as long as we can't come up with a clever plan, we will be stuck here." He looked over to Sherry, who just nodded.
"Good news is that we are currently not endangered by the black hole. We are at the very outer area of gravitational affection, meaning it will only slowly pull us towards it. The repair of our engines will be enough to free us and allow us to keep a steady distance to it. It is unlikely we will meet anyone else here, since the chances of something jumping to this exact location are astronomically tiny. This both means there is nothing to fear for us, but also means we can't call for help. That being said, we are not connected to the neural net anyway, as we are too far away. A distress call would probably not reach Sirius in a very long time. A very, very, very long time."
"Luckily we have a good amount of food rations, synth paste and gel, water and other goods on the ship. If we limit the energy consumption of the ship we can buy us time, months, and if we come up with some clever modifications, maybe years, if necessary. Of course, the highest priority is to find a way to get us back to Sirius. If there are any ideas, at any time, just speak up. In the meantime, we all need to be as efficient as possible while trying to reduce any unnecessary activity. We need to be resourceful, as best as possible, as long as possible.
This is not the end, people. We will not die out here. Not like this. We have lost enough good people. I will not allow any further losses. We will return home!"
"Orders are the same as before. Engineers will focus on the engines first, then on the repairs of the most important subsystems. We have only so many spare parts available, so no unnecessary alterations or optical repairs. Functionality over aesthetics. Anyone else, help where you can, clean up the ship's corridors and rooms, make yourself useful if possible. I will create plans for modifications to our life support systems. One of our first changes will be the extension of the hydroponics to plant potatoes and other valuable plants."
"You have your orders, people. Let's get to work!"
![[Image: ymVb7hq.png]](http://i.imgur.com/ymVb7hq.png)
While Ezrael's motivational speeches usually had a good impact on the crew, this time the morale did not change that much. Half of the crew was dead, their lifeless bodies frozen in medbay until the Captain would decide about a funeral. The crew was from all over Sirius. From all kinds of social groups. Few of them were able to handle the losses, others were barely able to concentrate. Two of the former were in the engine room, sitting on the floor, cross-legged with mobile consoles on their laps. Leon and Annie. They were controlling the Handsome Rover remotely, patching up the engine tubes at the rear of the ship this way.
"That girl," Annie started, breaking a longer lasting silence. Her eyes remained glued to the monitor. Leon raised an eyebrow in surprise, only for a short moment looking over at her before focusing on the work again. "Sombra. Do you know her?"
"Yes, very well even. Why do you ask?" Leon returned quietly, glad this was not about Nancy.
"Well, she never introduced herself to us. Who is she? I only know she is the logistical transport captain, and that she seems to be a friend of the Captain." The emphasis on friend was implying much.
Leon took a deep breath. "Sombra and I were classmates and grew up together. She once was obese until she met Ezrael who was our biology and physical education teacher back then. He managed to fund her a surgery and then took care of her since her parents never did, so she became more sovereign, learned to eat healthy, stopped cutting herself and all that. The three of us spent more and more time after school together, there was the surfing class and later we did more adult things, Sombra fell in love with Ezrael which is a thing until today and basically does anything he wants, like a fanatic. And so she started to do transport jobs for Ez, either bringing stuff to the Apahanta or doing other jobs to help Ez financing the Apahanta's maintenance. How she manages that is something she never talks about, though," the blonde explained while controlling the drone. It was currently patching up a hole in one of the engine cylinders.
"So she is one of his side bitches?" Annie asked, giving Leon a lopsided glance. "And his girlfriend just takes it that way?"
"Yes, and yes. Ez and Maren were often in a hassle about that topic, but in the end she had to accept him that way for a number of reasons." He sighed. "To be honest, it's an annoying topic, so let's focus on the work."
"It's a topic you had with Nancy as well, right?" she asked him, staring at her monitor.
After a short silence, he replied simply. "Yes."
"She is sleeping with other men?" Leon remained quiet. It was answer enough. "And now you're stuck here. And you'll probably never see her again."
Leon turned his head towards her, frowning at her. "You're not helpful!"
"I'm so-"
"I'm trying to come up with ideas how we can return home, because of all people who are still alive, I am the one who has the knowledge. I think about how we can create enough energy to feed the jump drive, either by recharging the batteries or by overcharging the power core or even using the black hole's radiation, and meanwhile I patch up the ship's engines. It will not be Ezrael who brings us home but me. I will do that. And for that I need to focus on my work, Annie, and not think about Nancy fucking other men or Ezrael or some Forlorn idiot. I do not want to think about how she will literally forget me because of her memory damage. I do not want to think about her right now, do you understand? Neither about her nor about Ez or Sombs. There is work to do. Focus on it and we'll be back home in a few days!"
It was obvious he was angry, and probably right about everything he said. Annie turned her face away from him, not having expected him to get mad at her. With a pouty face, she glued her eyes to the monitor. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.
Leon tried to focus on the job, but the fear was real. Nancy would simply forget about him.
The door to the bridge opened and Sombra entered the big room in a hurry, joining the group at Leon's side. While she was technically not part of the crew, she was now trapped with them here at the black hole. Thus Ezrael provided her one of the Apahanta suits, and because she had no other clothes with her. Ezrael nodded at her in a welcoming way before he began to talk.
"Good morning, people. Some of you probably know it already, but here is the general situation.
We are, according to the sensors, in the spatial void between Sirius and another sector, very likely between two galaxies. We can see no other stars because there are none. There is nothing but this black hole. This means we are on our own. We are unable to jump back to Sirius because we don't have any jump drive batteries left. This means, as long as we can't come up with a clever plan, we will be stuck here." He looked over to Sherry, who just nodded.
"Good news is that we are currently not endangered by the black hole. We are at the very outer area of gravitational affection, meaning it will only slowly pull us towards it. The repair of our engines will be enough to free us and allow us to keep a steady distance to it. It is unlikely we will meet anyone else here, since the chances of something jumping to this exact location are astronomically tiny. This both means there is nothing to fear for us, but also means we can't call for help. That being said, we are not connected to the neural net anyway, as we are too far away. A distress call would probably not reach Sirius in a very long time. A very, very, very long time."
"Luckily we have a good amount of food rations, synth paste and gel, water and other goods on the ship. If we limit the energy consumption of the ship we can buy us time, months, and if we come up with some clever modifications, maybe years, if necessary. Of course, the highest priority is to find a way to get us back to Sirius. If there are any ideas, at any time, just speak up. In the meantime, we all need to be as efficient as possible while trying to reduce any unnecessary activity. We need to be resourceful, as best as possible, as long as possible.
This is not the end, people. We will not die out here. Not like this. We have lost enough good people. I will not allow any further losses. We will return home!"
"Orders are the same as before. Engineers will focus on the engines first, then on the repairs of the most important subsystems. We have only so many spare parts available, so no unnecessary alterations or optical repairs. Functionality over aesthetics. Anyone else, help where you can, clean up the ship's corridors and rooms, make yourself useful if possible. I will create plans for modifications to our life support systems. One of our first changes will be the extension of the hydroponics to plant potatoes and other valuable plants."
"You have your orders, people. Let's get to work!"
While Ezrael's motivational speeches usually had a good impact on the crew, this time the morale did not change that much. Half of the crew was dead, their lifeless bodies frozen in medbay until the Captain would decide about a funeral. The crew was from all over Sirius. From all kinds of social groups. Few of them were able to handle the losses, others were barely able to concentrate. Two of the former were in the engine room, sitting on the floor, cross-legged with mobile consoles on their laps. Leon and Annie. They were controlling the Handsome Rover remotely, patching up the engine tubes at the rear of the ship this way.
"That girl," Annie started, breaking a longer lasting silence. Her eyes remained glued to the monitor. Leon raised an eyebrow in surprise, only for a short moment looking over at her before focusing on the work again. "Sombra. Do you know her?"
"Yes, very well even. Why do you ask?" Leon returned quietly, glad this was not about Nancy.
"Well, she never introduced herself to us. Who is she? I only know she is the logistical transport captain, and that she seems to be a friend of the Captain." The emphasis on friend was implying much.
Leon took a deep breath. "Sombra and I were classmates and grew up together. She once was obese until she met Ezrael who was our biology and physical education teacher back then. He managed to fund her a surgery and then took care of her since her parents never did, so she became more sovereign, learned to eat healthy, stopped cutting herself and all that. The three of us spent more and more time after school together, there was the surfing class and later we did more adult things, Sombra fell in love with Ezrael which is a thing until today and basically does anything he wants, like a fanatic. And so she started to do transport jobs for Ez, either bringing stuff to the Apahanta or doing other jobs to help Ez financing the Apahanta's maintenance. How she manages that is something she never talks about, though," the blonde explained while controlling the drone. It was currently patching up a hole in one of the engine cylinders.
"So she is one of his side bitches?" Annie asked, giving Leon a lopsided glance. "And his girlfriend just takes it that way?"
"Yes, and yes. Ez and Maren were often in a hassle about that topic, but in the end she had to accept him that way for a number of reasons." He sighed. "To be honest, it's an annoying topic, so let's focus on the work."
"It's a topic you had with Nancy as well, right?" she asked him, staring at her monitor.
After a short silence, he replied simply. "Yes."
"She is sleeping with other men?" Leon remained quiet. It was answer enough. "And now you're stuck here. And you'll probably never see her again."
Leon turned his head towards her, frowning at her. "You're not helpful!"
"I'm so-"
"I'm trying to come up with ideas how we can return home, because of all people who are still alive, I am the one who has the knowledge. I think about how we can create enough energy to feed the jump drive, either by recharging the batteries or by overcharging the power core or even using the black hole's radiation, and meanwhile I patch up the ship's engines. It will not be Ezrael who brings us home but me. I will do that. And for that I need to focus on my work, Annie, and not think about Nancy fucking other men or Ezrael or some Forlorn idiot. I do not want to think about how she will literally forget me because of her memory damage. I do not want to think about her right now, do you understand? Neither about her nor about Ez or Sombs. There is work to do. Focus on it and we'll be back home in a few days!"
It was obvious he was angry, and probably right about everything he said. Annie turned her face away from him, not having expected him to get mad at her. With a pouty face, she glued her eyes to the monitor. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.
Leon tried to focus on the job, but the fear was real. Nancy would simply forget about him.
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 04-30-2018
Day 4 - Location unknown
![[Image: JBxIcHe.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/JBxIcHe.gif)
It was the fourth day. Microvibrations caused by the engines were creating a familiar sound all over the ship. Remaining at the most outer edge of the black hole, the Apahanta used just enough engine power to counter the gravitational pull of the black hole.
Ezrael opened his eyes. It was time to wake up. "Apahanta, please turn the morning light on. And my music playlist." And a beep later, the room was illuminated in a sunrise-esque orange, the wall-monitors turned active and the Captain's music began to play. His head turned to the side, just to find Sombra laying next to him, sleeping like a rock. With a smirk on his face, he placed a peck on her cheek and then removed the blanket. The hot air of their bodies was leaving, allowing an uncomfortably less-warm breeze to caress their nude bodies. "Get up, Sombs!"
After an suspiciously long shower together, they dried and dressed up, putting on their Apahanta suits. When they both arrived at the canteen, they only found Sherry sitting there, with a PDA and a cup of coffee. Ezrael's glance over to her was ignored, as she seemed to be focused on her PDA. "Does she ever sleep?" Sombra asked as she followed his eyes. They stood at the buffet and took their trays, starting to gather the breakfast.
"I often wonder about that myself, but then again I guess she has some tricks. She was longer with the Core than me." About a minute later, they arrived at the table Sherry was sitting at and sat down on the opposite side, Sombra right next to Ezrael. "Good morning, Commander."
"Good morning, Captain. Miss Hookier." It was weird. Sherry usually prioritized greeting the Captain in a more respectful manner but this time she didn't even look up to see his charming smirk.
"Everything alright, Sherry?" Ezrael asked her after a few seconds of silence, taking his glass of milk while looking at the woman with the chestnut-colored hair.
She looked up, into his eyes. "Pardon, Captain. I am currently comparing the jump drive logs to check if I am right with my theory."
"Right about what specificly?" Ezrael asked, then took a good sip of the milk. Sombra was munching on a bowl of cereals in the meantime.
"Specificly everything. The better we understand the areal situation, the better we can find a solution. I was comparing our latest blind jump with other blind jumps we did. It appears the time the Apahanta was in hyperspace was five times longer than usual. We didn't notice it because we were busy with the combat situation and all the damage the ship took. However, this explains why we are out of jump drive batteries. It also creates new questions. What caused the jump drive to do that? The hyperspace itself or VS-0074? Or the damage our ship received? Or this black hole? I really wished Poole was still alive, Captain, because he knew such things." She sighed quietly, glancing at their trays.
"You should have breakfast with us, Commander. I need you to stay healthy, and coffee alone won't do the job." Once more he gave her his typical charming smirk while grabbing his apple.
"Captain, after the breakfast I need to talk to you privately," Sherry sounded, giving him a firm look. "I need to discuss a few worst-case-scenarios with you."
"I see. We will talk about that in your room, then. Now get yourself some food, that is an order." Sherry nodded at that and stood up, heading for the trays. She was followed by Lorena Hawkins, who just entered the canteen to have breakfast. Ezrael smiled over to her, just to have the line of view intercepted by Sombra's face. She gave him a suspiciously wide smirk. "W-what?" Ezrael sounded awkwardly as he faced Sombra.
"Why do you smile like that, Ez?" Sombra asked weirdly enthusiastic.
"I am a jovial person. You should know, you know me for many years. I like to smile." She grinned at him even more. "Oh please, you again."
"You know, Ez, I slowly begin to understand why you didn't want me to walk around freely here. I'm slowly discovering the interpersonal constructs here on the ship. And I believe Lorena to be one of the girls you convinced to join your crew with the power of your di-"
"You know, since we're extending the hydroponics, I need someone to mix the required soil. You know what that means? Buckets of dried poop need to be rehydrated and mixed with dirt, so we can grow more plants. I yet have to assign someone to that job."
They gave each other firm looks until Sombra faced her bowl of cereals again. Ezrael bit in his apple and chew it. "So I was right. I mean, she fits the scheme."
"You'll love the job, Sombs. You take the biomatter containers to the hydroponics and open them there and get a breeze of poop. No breathing masks, you'd do it with nose and mouth wide open. Some water to create moisture and then you add the dirt and fill it into the new plant beds."
"I'd probably vomit from that," Sombra sounded, frowning while smirking awkwardly at her cereals.
"Do it into the soil, though, so we get nice potatoes."
The mood during the breakfast was better than the days before. A certain level of normality was establishing, however the lack of stars felt awkward. Commander Aguilar did not have this feeling. Ezrael entered her room and was met with the bright light of Manhattan's skyline. The holographic windows next to Sherry's bed displayed it, as usual. Sherry herself sat at the edge of her bed and looked up as Ezrael entered her room. The door closed behind him and she stood up. "Captain."
"Sherry?" He smirked at her.
"Take a seat, please." She pointed with an open hand towards the seat on the opposite site of the room. Smiling, Ezrael took the invitation and sat down, followed by Sherry who sat down on his lap, just to get embraced from behind. She leaned her back against his upper body while he held her, placing her head on his shoulder while facing the skyline.
"How are you holding up, Sherry?" he asked her while his hands slid down to hers, cupping them.
She shifted slightly on his lap. Ezrael could feel her breathing as her chest moved up and down. "I knew managing a crew is not always fun. I like the crew, the ship, you of course as well, but this is the first time I do not know how to handle things." He heard her sighing. "I have doubts about us returning home, so I thought about how to increase our chances of survival and how we can minimize the resource consumption."
This was something Ezrael did not like. He was fully aware of himself not being the most suitable captain, given he bought himself into the Core and into the bridge of the Apahanta. Sherry on the other hand had had many years of training. Her being unsure about the situation was a bad sign. "Go on."
"I created plans for each available crew member on what they can do. The engineers are fully scheduled, others have only so much to do as they lack the skills to do other things in reliable ways. I mean, we can't even train them to do stuff they don't know anything about yet, because we have only so many people and those need to work already. It would be a waste of time. So I tried to figure out how we can use unemployed people. And then I remembered we have cryo capsules." The last sentence was spoken a bit more quiet.
"Good idea. We should ask whether they want to be around or just sleep in cryo until things change or they are specifically needed." Since she did not reply after his words, he added "Right?"
"Ezrael, we will be out here for a very long time, very likely. If we can reduce the resource consumption as early as possible, it will buy us precious time. With each consumed resource, quality of life will be reduced a little bit. It starts with things like your beloved fruit shampoo and milk, later it is medication and rations and in the end we will eat only potatoes in all kinds of variations. Another resource is energy itself. It starts with lights, sonic showers and all that, and in their spare time the crew wants to do things. Like, look at this. The skyline of Manhattan. It is soothing to me to have that, but we can be here longer if I turn it off at once and never turn it on again." She made a break for a moment, looking at the virtual sun of the New York system at the sky of Manhattan. "Apahanta, turn off the holographic window."
With that order, the picture disappeared, leaving a jet black wall behind. "So you suggest we start limiting ourselves to the bare minimum from now on already."
"I mean the cryo capsules shouldn't be an option but an order."
Ezrael's heart was beating a bit faster. He did not like the idea. "We're twelve people. Who to begin with?"
For a moment, Sherry remained quiet. Then she took a deep breath. "You won't like it, I can imagine that, but I believe Sombra is lacking the skills to be an effective resource right now. She is a pilot. There is nothing to pilot right now."
"I need her. She is good for the morale of the crew, Sherry. A funny person, always smiling and happy-"
He was interrupted by Sherry. "Ezrael, I know you like her and that you are used to have sex every single day, but we are currently experiencing an emergency situation. We need to set priorities here."
"Who else?" he asked her in a roughly quick manner. His grip on her hands was reflecting it.
"For now, nobody else. Isley, Toru, Reese, Tate, Hawkins, Powell and Hauser are all capable of doing necessary repairs or maintaining and programming KSRs. Dr. Carr should be available all the time, that should be self-explanatory, and as long as Wright is not fully recovered, we can't stick her into a cryo capsule. We also need her to oversee the hydroponics. While you lack technical understanding, you are the Captain, and the crew needs a captain. And I am our only science officer right now. When the time comes, we can reduce the engineering team to what is necessary, but I believe Isley and Reese are most likely to be the people to come up with a good idea to bring us back home." There was a moment of silence before she continued, feeling a certain anger from the body at her back. "It is for our own good, Ezrael."
"I know. The implications are just... unlucky. Imagine it. The next few hours could be her last moments of consciousness. Then we put her into a cryo capsule and she sleeps. Until we either wake her up, or until something destroys the ship or until we run out of energy, or until the cryostasis can't prevent her aging anymore." He let go of her hands. "She would die sleeping in there."
"If we don't return home, that will probably be the fate of us all. When we run out of resources, the whole crew will enter cryo and probably die when the Apahanta has no energy left. Or gets ripped apart from the black hole." There were several moments of silence. None of them said anything, as both were thinking about it. Then, Sherry added something. "Your orders, Captain?"
Considering the options in his head, Ezrael needed a few more seconds before he replied. "Continue as usual. In three days I will put her into cryo. Until then she will help me with the hydroponics while Tasha remains in medical to recover as fast as possible." One of his hands moved to her belly. "You will say no word to her about any of this. Don't even mention the cryo capsules infront of the crew until Sombra is in one. Leave this to me, do you understand?"
Her eyes were glancing at his hand at her belly. "Yes, Captain."
Ezrael opened his eyes. It was time to wake up. "Apahanta, please turn the morning light on. And my music playlist." And a beep later, the room was illuminated in a sunrise-esque orange, the wall-monitors turned active and the Captain's music began to play. His head turned to the side, just to find Sombra laying next to him, sleeping like a rock. With a smirk on his face, he placed a peck on her cheek and then removed the blanket. The hot air of their bodies was leaving, allowing an uncomfortably less-warm breeze to caress their nude bodies. "Get up, Sombs!"
After an suspiciously long shower together, they dried and dressed up, putting on their Apahanta suits. When they both arrived at the canteen, they only found Sherry sitting there, with a PDA and a cup of coffee. Ezrael's glance over to her was ignored, as she seemed to be focused on her PDA. "Does she ever sleep?" Sombra asked as she followed his eyes. They stood at the buffet and took their trays, starting to gather the breakfast.
"I often wonder about that myself, but then again I guess she has some tricks. She was longer with the Core than me." About a minute later, they arrived at the table Sherry was sitting at and sat down on the opposite side, Sombra right next to Ezrael. "Good morning, Commander."
"Good morning, Captain. Miss Hookier." It was weird. Sherry usually prioritized greeting the Captain in a more respectful manner but this time she didn't even look up to see his charming smirk.
"Everything alright, Sherry?" Ezrael asked her after a few seconds of silence, taking his glass of milk while looking at the woman with the chestnut-colored hair.
She looked up, into his eyes. "Pardon, Captain. I am currently comparing the jump drive logs to check if I am right with my theory."
"Right about what specificly?" Ezrael asked, then took a good sip of the milk. Sombra was munching on a bowl of cereals in the meantime.
"Specificly everything. The better we understand the areal situation, the better we can find a solution. I was comparing our latest blind jump with other blind jumps we did. It appears the time the Apahanta was in hyperspace was five times longer than usual. We didn't notice it because we were busy with the combat situation and all the damage the ship took. However, this explains why we are out of jump drive batteries. It also creates new questions. What caused the jump drive to do that? The hyperspace itself or VS-0074? Or the damage our ship received? Or this black hole? I really wished Poole was still alive, Captain, because he knew such things." She sighed quietly, glancing at their trays.
"You should have breakfast with us, Commander. I need you to stay healthy, and coffee alone won't do the job." Once more he gave her his typical charming smirk while grabbing his apple.
"Captain, after the breakfast I need to talk to you privately," Sherry sounded, giving him a firm look. "I need to discuss a few worst-case-scenarios with you."
"I see. We will talk about that in your room, then. Now get yourself some food, that is an order." Sherry nodded at that and stood up, heading for the trays. She was followed by Lorena Hawkins, who just entered the canteen to have breakfast. Ezrael smiled over to her, just to have the line of view intercepted by Sombra's face. She gave him a suspiciously wide smirk. "W-what?" Ezrael sounded awkwardly as he faced Sombra.
"Why do you smile like that, Ez?" Sombra asked weirdly enthusiastic.
"I am a jovial person. You should know, you know me for many years. I like to smile." She grinned at him even more. "Oh please, you again."
"You know, Ez, I slowly begin to understand why you didn't want me to walk around freely here. I'm slowly discovering the interpersonal constructs here on the ship. And I believe Lorena to be one of the girls you convinced to join your crew with the power of your di-"
"You know, since we're extending the hydroponics, I need someone to mix the required soil. You know what that means? Buckets of dried poop need to be rehydrated and mixed with dirt, so we can grow more plants. I yet have to assign someone to that job."
They gave each other firm looks until Sombra faced her bowl of cereals again. Ezrael bit in his apple and chew it. "So I was right. I mean, she fits the scheme."
"You'll love the job, Sombs. You take the biomatter containers to the hydroponics and open them there and get a breeze of poop. No breathing masks, you'd do it with nose and mouth wide open. Some water to create moisture and then you add the dirt and fill it into the new plant beds."
"I'd probably vomit from that," Sombra sounded, frowning while smirking awkwardly at her cereals.
"Do it into the soil, though, so we get nice potatoes."
The mood during the breakfast was better than the days before. A certain level of normality was establishing, however the lack of stars felt awkward. Commander Aguilar did not have this feeling. Ezrael entered her room and was met with the bright light of Manhattan's skyline. The holographic windows next to Sherry's bed displayed it, as usual. Sherry herself sat at the edge of her bed and looked up as Ezrael entered her room. The door closed behind him and she stood up. "Captain."
"Sherry?" He smirked at her.
"Take a seat, please." She pointed with an open hand towards the seat on the opposite site of the room. Smiling, Ezrael took the invitation and sat down, followed by Sherry who sat down on his lap, just to get embraced from behind. She leaned her back against his upper body while he held her, placing her head on his shoulder while facing the skyline.
"How are you holding up, Sherry?" he asked her while his hands slid down to hers, cupping them.
She shifted slightly on his lap. Ezrael could feel her breathing as her chest moved up and down. "I knew managing a crew is not always fun. I like the crew, the ship, you of course as well, but this is the first time I do not know how to handle things." He heard her sighing. "I have doubts about us returning home, so I thought about how to increase our chances of survival and how we can minimize the resource consumption."
This was something Ezrael did not like. He was fully aware of himself not being the most suitable captain, given he bought himself into the Core and into the bridge of the Apahanta. Sherry on the other hand had had many years of training. Her being unsure about the situation was a bad sign. "Go on."
"I created plans for each available crew member on what they can do. The engineers are fully scheduled, others have only so much to do as they lack the skills to do other things in reliable ways. I mean, we can't even train them to do stuff they don't know anything about yet, because we have only so many people and those need to work already. It would be a waste of time. So I tried to figure out how we can use unemployed people. And then I remembered we have cryo capsules." The last sentence was spoken a bit more quiet.
"Good idea. We should ask whether they want to be around or just sleep in cryo until things change or they are specifically needed." Since she did not reply after his words, he added "Right?"
"Ezrael, we will be out here for a very long time, very likely. If we can reduce the resource consumption as early as possible, it will buy us precious time. With each consumed resource, quality of life will be reduced a little bit. It starts with things like your beloved fruit shampoo and milk, later it is medication and rations and in the end we will eat only potatoes in all kinds of variations. Another resource is energy itself. It starts with lights, sonic showers and all that, and in their spare time the crew wants to do things. Like, look at this. The skyline of Manhattan. It is soothing to me to have that, but we can be here longer if I turn it off at once and never turn it on again." She made a break for a moment, looking at the virtual sun of the New York system at the sky of Manhattan. "Apahanta, turn off the holographic window."
With that order, the picture disappeared, leaving a jet black wall behind. "So you suggest we start limiting ourselves to the bare minimum from now on already."
"I mean the cryo capsules shouldn't be an option but an order."
Ezrael's heart was beating a bit faster. He did not like the idea. "We're twelve people. Who to begin with?"
For a moment, Sherry remained quiet. Then she took a deep breath. "You won't like it, I can imagine that, but I believe Sombra is lacking the skills to be an effective resource right now. She is a pilot. There is nothing to pilot right now."
"I need her. She is good for the morale of the crew, Sherry. A funny person, always smiling and happy-"
He was interrupted by Sherry. "Ezrael, I know you like her and that you are used to have sex every single day, but we are currently experiencing an emergency situation. We need to set priorities here."
"Who else?" he asked her in a roughly quick manner. His grip on her hands was reflecting it.
"For now, nobody else. Isley, Toru, Reese, Tate, Hawkins, Powell and Hauser are all capable of doing necessary repairs or maintaining and programming KSRs. Dr. Carr should be available all the time, that should be self-explanatory, and as long as Wright is not fully recovered, we can't stick her into a cryo capsule. We also need her to oversee the hydroponics. While you lack technical understanding, you are the Captain, and the crew needs a captain. And I am our only science officer right now. When the time comes, we can reduce the engineering team to what is necessary, but I believe Isley and Reese are most likely to be the people to come up with a good idea to bring us back home." There was a moment of silence before she continued, feeling a certain anger from the body at her back. "It is for our own good, Ezrael."
"I know. The implications are just... unlucky. Imagine it. The next few hours could be her last moments of consciousness. Then we put her into a cryo capsule and she sleeps. Until we either wake her up, or until something destroys the ship or until we run out of energy, or until the cryostasis can't prevent her aging anymore." He let go of her hands. "She would die sleeping in there."
"If we don't return home, that will probably be the fate of us all. When we run out of resources, the whole crew will enter cryo and probably die when the Apahanta has no energy left. Or gets ripped apart from the black hole." There were several moments of silence. None of them said anything, as both were thinking about it. Then, Sherry added something. "Your orders, Captain?"
Considering the options in his head, Ezrael needed a few more seconds before he replied. "Continue as usual. In three days I will put her into cryo. Until then she will help me with the hydroponics while Tasha remains in medical to recover as fast as possible." One of his hands moved to her belly. "You will say no word to her about any of this. Don't even mention the cryo capsules infront of the crew until Sombra is in one. Leave this to me, do you understand?"
Her eyes were glancing at his hand at her belly. "Yes, Captain."
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 05-01-2018
Day 5 - Location unknown
![[Image: eUoXof5.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/eUoXof5.gif)
Five days had passed since the Apahanta was stranded in deep space. The melancholy caused by the losses of crew, neural net and anything Sirius was giving the people of the ship was slowly fading. Especially one person kept cheering up the crew. The one person who prefered this situation over anything else.
The hydroponics had changed. The room was now extended by many other rooms that used to be separate crew quarters. In the recent days, Ezrael and some others were busy cutting through the walls adjacent to the hydroponics to merge the rooms, and now they had created a long corridor which offered enough space for a few long rows of plants. After a nice breakfast, the Captain and Sombra went to the hydroponics to continue the work. It was time to let rehydrate poop. For soil and science.
While this happened, Leon sat on a bench at the observation deck. A dark, multi-level room at the side of the head of the ship. There was only so much light here, and the windows allowed a perfect view on the black hole that was said to have caught them in deep space. Crosslegged the blonde surferboy sat there all alone for minutes until the bent rays of light coming through the windows illuminated the silhouette of another person who entered the observation deck. It was the Commander.
"Chief," Sherry sounded respectfully as she approached him, for now remaining standing next to the bench. Leon turned his head towards her, obviously dragged out of a train of thoughts and surprised by the sudden presence.
"Hello Commander. New orders for me?" he asked her in a slightly lethargic way, looking at the black hole again.
"No. That is not why I am here. I would like to talk with you, if you do not object."
Hiding a sigh, he kept his eyes on the black hole as he replied. "No objections, Commander."
Hesitating for a moment, Sherry then came closer and sat down next to him, however not crosslegged like he did but casually, her hands folded in her lap. This was not how she imagined it, so she gave him a scanning look however he seemed to ignore it. Following his line of sight, she took in the view. The black hole. An object they were only able to see because it was invisible. "I am sorry for you to be stuck here with us. I know you do not like space and are only here because of the Captain. And I know you are mad at the Captain for him having decided to engage VS-0074. It must be a nightmare for you to be here with us."
Agitated, Leon glanced at her, his expression a mix of anger, frustration and an awkward smile. He was about to say something but swallowed it again as he faced the Commander. She then shifted her head slightly, giving him a questioning stare. Trying to avoid it, Leon turned his head away, facing the black hole again. "Can I ask you a personal question, Commander?" Leon asked, blinking slowly at the anomaly out there. Sherry hummed in agreement, wondering what that question could be as she assumed he did not know much about her in first place. "Why do you serve under Ezrael? I do not understand how you can see him as competent captain."
There were seconds of silence. It suddenly felt to him like he made a mistake voicing that question. Everything about the Commander was signaling authority. Nobody wanted to mess with her. He had the feeling he just did. Just as he was opening his mouth to beg for a pardon, Sherry spoke up. "There have been days when I questioned it myself. Captain Vertiga is definitely not a picture book captain or something a Navy would be proud of. I know he lacks a certain discipline. He lacks distance from the crew. He lacks professionalism in many ways. I could tell you about stories of me finding him inches deep in the mouth of a crew member in the hydroponics. There have been moments when he entered the bridge only wearing underwear, while a combat situation was approaching. He also lacks technical and scientifical knowledge basics he would have learned over years at an academy or at least on Nauru during the Core training, however the Captain bought himself into the Core and the bridge." She stopped for a moment, unable to hide a smile. Leon glanced over to her, witnessing it. It remained on her lips for a few seconds until she continued. "He is not what the majority of spaceborne people would consider a professional. However..." she began, for a moment looking at Leon before facing the black hole again. "There are several other traits that have make him a competent leader. He is incredibly charismatic. He is chivalrous, can be a gentleman, can be a hedonist, can be an idiot or a hero. Ezrael has the heart at the right place. We are not here because he wanted to fight VS-0074 so badly but because we received a distress call from Delta. People have been begging for help. So we moved there and tried to help. This time, however, we did not win the fight."
She sighed quietly, shaking her head slightly in thought. "When I joined the Core, I dreamed of my own command. I was hoping people would acknowledge my professionalism. They never did, because they did not care about me. I was one of many thousands, and the difference between me and those thousands was the fact that I did not have the connections to the Guildkeepers or Guildmaster Nodtviet to make them notice me. Under other circumstances, I would probably still hand around at Yaren as reserve crew member of the Anassi or the Athena. But then I entered the bar and accidentally spilled beer all over Ezrael and we talked. I wouldn't be surprised if he told you the story."
"He didn't. He rarely speaks about his time within the Core, although I know he spend a certain amount of time in bars and beds."
Facing Leon once more, her smile vanished. Instantly he realized he made an assumption he should not have voiced. Slightly blushing, Sherry averted her eyes from him, looking mostly at the ground infront of them. "It is admittedly true. He has his ways of seducing women. Without this trait, I wouldn't have met him. But, to voice my personal opinion on this, Chief, if his promiscuity, his hedonism and his lack of professionalism are his worst traits, then I believe him to be a better human being than anyone else of this crew, still. They might annoy sometimes, but it could be way, way worse. Not many rich people are as level-headed and grounded as he is. The crew likes him, they are loyal to him. Not just because of the money he pays them for their work, because, to be perfectly honest, each one of us could have left the Apahanta a long time ago to retire and have a nice living in the colonies. The crew is here because they turned into a family. Many of them were outsiders or had big troubles in the colonies. On the Apahanta, they are safe. This ship is their home, this crew their family. And Ezrael is the head of this family. A good friend. A good lover. A good leader. He is a good man." A moment of silence. "And he needs you, both as Chief Engineer, and as his best friend. I know you are mad at him, but when he had to make a choice between saving lifes in Omicron Delta at the cost of your friendship and ignoring the distress call to keep his shiny battleship and the tiny crew of it unharmed, he chose to save lifes."
"He tried to be a hero."
"He is a hero." Sherry placed a hand on Leon's knee. He merely threw a glance at it. "It requires much bravery to leave the comfort zone and risk your own life to save those of others in danger. He saved about fifty defectors from the wrath of the Core when he ripped the Apahanta out of their greedy fangs. He himself fought Core loyal crew members during the take-over and got shot. He provided shelter for your girlfriend and his very special girlfriend, protecting them at his own risk. And whenever something dangerous happened on the Apahanta, he was there to take care of it. Experiments, fights, he even welcomed those hostile Auxesians on our ship."
His very special girlfriend, Leon thought. What was that supposed to mean? "There is no person more altruistic and heroic than him, on this ship, and to be perfectly honest, I don't know many people that are as brave as he is. That is why I serve under him. That is why we all accept him as our slightly chaotic captain. But you knew all of that already. You envy him for the way he is just like any of us does. I am certain of it."
Leon couldn't help but frown at this provocation. If he was honest, everything she said was true. He himself was not nearly as brave as Ezrael was, and he always looked up to him for that. Yet he remained quiet, not wanting to admit it. Who was left to be mad at if not at the Captain who made them strand here in deep space? As if she was able to read his mind, Sherry inhaled, exhaled and continued, this time more quietly.
"This is why you are here. Because he is your best friend. Because you secretly love the challenge. Because you want to be brave. You are afraid of space and battle, but that is what the reality is. And you know it is not nearly as bad to be on this ship as it often sounds like. It is a battleship, yet we mostly avoided battles. This ship has a certain charme to it. Thanks to the Captain. And thanks to the crew."
"It does have a certain charme, yes..." Leon mumbled quietly. Once more she was right. He never understood it himself. Every single time he wished he was back on Curacao, being afraid of the dangers of space. But back on Curacao he was unable to think of anything else than the Apahanta. Curacao was not the safe place anymore it used to be, now with Gallia ante portas. There was the sudden demand of being brave, as no place in Sirius seemed to safe anymore. But the Apahanta was a wild card.
"It would be nice if you would try to get in touch with the Captain again, Chief. Right now, you two need each other more than ever, because it will be very silent on the Apahanta soon. And I need the best Chief Engineer I have ever met to be focused on his work instead of him sitting wrapped in melancholy in a dark room, watching a black hole." She took a deep breath, then stood up. "You are more brave than you think you are, Leon. I have no doubts in your skills. You will bring us back to Sirius."
Slightly blushing, Leon kept his eyes on the ground while Sherry moved away. He heard her steps on the metal floor fading out. As the only audible sound was the vibration caused by the engines, he looked up at the black hole, with a hint of a smirk on his lips. "Where does the light come from when no stars are around."
The hydroponics had changed. The room was now extended by many other rooms that used to be separate crew quarters. In the recent days, Ezrael and some others were busy cutting through the walls adjacent to the hydroponics to merge the rooms, and now they had created a long corridor which offered enough space for a few long rows of plants. After a nice breakfast, the Captain and Sombra went to the hydroponics to continue the work. It was time to let rehydrate poop. For soil and science.
While this happened, Leon sat on a bench at the observation deck. A dark, multi-level room at the side of the head of the ship. There was only so much light here, and the windows allowed a perfect view on the black hole that was said to have caught them in deep space. Crosslegged the blonde surferboy sat there all alone for minutes until the bent rays of light coming through the windows illuminated the silhouette of another person who entered the observation deck. It was the Commander.
"Chief," Sherry sounded respectfully as she approached him, for now remaining standing next to the bench. Leon turned his head towards her, obviously dragged out of a train of thoughts and surprised by the sudden presence.
"Hello Commander. New orders for me?" he asked her in a slightly lethargic way, looking at the black hole again.
"No. That is not why I am here. I would like to talk with you, if you do not object."
Hiding a sigh, he kept his eyes on the black hole as he replied. "No objections, Commander."
Hesitating for a moment, Sherry then came closer and sat down next to him, however not crosslegged like he did but casually, her hands folded in her lap. This was not how she imagined it, so she gave him a scanning look however he seemed to ignore it. Following his line of sight, she took in the view. The black hole. An object they were only able to see because it was invisible. "I am sorry for you to be stuck here with us. I know you do not like space and are only here because of the Captain. And I know you are mad at the Captain for him having decided to engage VS-0074. It must be a nightmare for you to be here with us."
Agitated, Leon glanced at her, his expression a mix of anger, frustration and an awkward smile. He was about to say something but swallowed it again as he faced the Commander. She then shifted her head slightly, giving him a questioning stare. Trying to avoid it, Leon turned his head away, facing the black hole again. "Can I ask you a personal question, Commander?" Leon asked, blinking slowly at the anomaly out there. Sherry hummed in agreement, wondering what that question could be as she assumed he did not know much about her in first place. "Why do you serve under Ezrael? I do not understand how you can see him as competent captain."
There were seconds of silence. It suddenly felt to him like he made a mistake voicing that question. Everything about the Commander was signaling authority. Nobody wanted to mess with her. He had the feeling he just did. Just as he was opening his mouth to beg for a pardon, Sherry spoke up. "There have been days when I questioned it myself. Captain Vertiga is definitely not a picture book captain or something a Navy would be proud of. I know he lacks a certain discipline. He lacks distance from the crew. He lacks professionalism in many ways. I could tell you about stories of me finding him inches deep in the mouth of a crew member in the hydroponics. There have been moments when he entered the bridge only wearing underwear, while a combat situation was approaching. He also lacks technical and scientifical knowledge basics he would have learned over years at an academy or at least on Nauru during the Core training, however the Captain bought himself into the Core and the bridge." She stopped for a moment, unable to hide a smile. Leon glanced over to her, witnessing it. It remained on her lips for a few seconds until she continued. "He is not what the majority of spaceborne people would consider a professional. However..." she began, for a moment looking at Leon before facing the black hole again. "There are several other traits that have make him a competent leader. He is incredibly charismatic. He is chivalrous, can be a gentleman, can be a hedonist, can be an idiot or a hero. Ezrael has the heart at the right place. We are not here because he wanted to fight VS-0074 so badly but because we received a distress call from Delta. People have been begging for help. So we moved there and tried to help. This time, however, we did not win the fight."
She sighed quietly, shaking her head slightly in thought. "When I joined the Core, I dreamed of my own command. I was hoping people would acknowledge my professionalism. They never did, because they did not care about me. I was one of many thousands, and the difference between me and those thousands was the fact that I did not have the connections to the Guildkeepers or Guildmaster Nodtviet to make them notice me. Under other circumstances, I would probably still hand around at Yaren as reserve crew member of the Anassi or the Athena. But then I entered the bar and accidentally spilled beer all over Ezrael and we talked. I wouldn't be surprised if he told you the story."
"He didn't. He rarely speaks about his time within the Core, although I know he spend a certain amount of time in bars and beds."
Facing Leon once more, her smile vanished. Instantly he realized he made an assumption he should not have voiced. Slightly blushing, Sherry averted her eyes from him, looking mostly at the ground infront of them. "It is admittedly true. He has his ways of seducing women. Without this trait, I wouldn't have met him. But, to voice my personal opinion on this, Chief, if his promiscuity, his hedonism and his lack of professionalism are his worst traits, then I believe him to be a better human being than anyone else of this crew, still. They might annoy sometimes, but it could be way, way worse. Not many rich people are as level-headed and grounded as he is. The crew likes him, they are loyal to him. Not just because of the money he pays them for their work, because, to be perfectly honest, each one of us could have left the Apahanta a long time ago to retire and have a nice living in the colonies. The crew is here because they turned into a family. Many of them were outsiders or had big troubles in the colonies. On the Apahanta, they are safe. This ship is their home, this crew their family. And Ezrael is the head of this family. A good friend. A good lover. A good leader. He is a good man." A moment of silence. "And he needs you, both as Chief Engineer, and as his best friend. I know you are mad at him, but when he had to make a choice between saving lifes in Omicron Delta at the cost of your friendship and ignoring the distress call to keep his shiny battleship and the tiny crew of it unharmed, he chose to save lifes."
"He tried to be a hero."
"He is a hero." Sherry placed a hand on Leon's knee. He merely threw a glance at it. "It requires much bravery to leave the comfort zone and risk your own life to save those of others in danger. He saved about fifty defectors from the wrath of the Core when he ripped the Apahanta out of their greedy fangs. He himself fought Core loyal crew members during the take-over and got shot. He provided shelter for your girlfriend and his very special girlfriend, protecting them at his own risk. And whenever something dangerous happened on the Apahanta, he was there to take care of it. Experiments, fights, he even welcomed those hostile Auxesians on our ship."
His very special girlfriend, Leon thought. What was that supposed to mean? "There is no person more altruistic and heroic than him, on this ship, and to be perfectly honest, I don't know many people that are as brave as he is. That is why I serve under him. That is why we all accept him as our slightly chaotic captain. But you knew all of that already. You envy him for the way he is just like any of us does. I am certain of it."
Leon couldn't help but frown at this provocation. If he was honest, everything she said was true. He himself was not nearly as brave as Ezrael was, and he always looked up to him for that. Yet he remained quiet, not wanting to admit it. Who was left to be mad at if not at the Captain who made them strand here in deep space? As if she was able to read his mind, Sherry inhaled, exhaled and continued, this time more quietly.
"This is why you are here. Because he is your best friend. Because you secretly love the challenge. Because you want to be brave. You are afraid of space and battle, but that is what the reality is. And you know it is not nearly as bad to be on this ship as it often sounds like. It is a battleship, yet we mostly avoided battles. This ship has a certain charme to it. Thanks to the Captain. And thanks to the crew."
"It does have a certain charme, yes..." Leon mumbled quietly. Once more she was right. He never understood it himself. Every single time he wished he was back on Curacao, being afraid of the dangers of space. But back on Curacao he was unable to think of anything else than the Apahanta. Curacao was not the safe place anymore it used to be, now with Gallia ante portas. There was the sudden demand of being brave, as no place in Sirius seemed to safe anymore. But the Apahanta was a wild card.
"It would be nice if you would try to get in touch with the Captain again, Chief. Right now, you two need each other more than ever, because it will be very silent on the Apahanta soon. And I need the best Chief Engineer I have ever met to be focused on his work instead of him sitting wrapped in melancholy in a dark room, watching a black hole." She took a deep breath, then stood up. "You are more brave than you think you are, Leon. I have no doubts in your skills. You will bring us back to Sirius."
Slightly blushing, Leon kept his eyes on the ground while Sherry moved away. He heard her steps on the metal floor fading out. As the only audible sound was the vibration caused by the engines, he looked up at the black hole, with a hint of a smirk on his lips. "Where does the light come from when no stars are around."
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 05-04-2018
Day 5 - Location unknown
![[Image: caReoNn.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/caReoNn.gif)
It was evening. Whenever the ship was switching from a day cycle to a night cycle, the lights all over the ship changed from white to blue. And so, as Leon left the lift and entered the bridge deck corridors, the lights changed. It was a long day for him, but the repairs of the ship were making progress. Shields were holding, engines were holding, sensors were online, yet there was still much to do.
The Chief Engineer stopped infront of the door to his room, hesitating for a moment. His room was right next to Ezrael's. Looking over, he sighed and moved the few steps over to the Captain's door, pushing the button for the door bell. For seconds, nothing happened. Another push. Before Leon got to ask the Apahanta's AI for the location of the Captain, the voices of two giggling women filled the hallway. One voice was of Sombra, the other of Lorena Hawkins, the Shield Distribution Officer. The two women were leaving a lift, heading towards Leon however ignoring him for now, every now and then giggling about something Leon could not determine. Then however, Sombra threw a glance at him as they stopped infront of Lorena's quarter. "Ez' not in there. He's at the hydroponics if you're looking for him," she sounded, answering the question Leon didn't even get to voice. In return he merely nodded at her, watching them disappearing in Lorena's room.
![[Image: n5Is4v9.png]](https://i.imgur.com/n5Is4v9.png)
The extension of the hydroponics was progressing relatively fast. The walls have been dismantled, the rooms emptied and with the assistance of service robots, Ezrael and Sombra managed to place the first hydroponical beds. The room had an unpleasant scent to it, originating from the soil they had mixed a few hours ago. Leon entered the hydroponics and moved through the old hydroponical section, heading for the apple tree at the end of the walkway. And there he spotted the Captain. Ezrael had his hair tied to a ponytail while wearing a breathing mask. The gloves and sleeves of this suit were dirty from the soil, just as his knees and boots were. Realizing he was not alone, Ezrael stood up from the hydroponic bed he was kneeing in, looking at the blonde. Giving him a hand sign, wanting him to wait at the tree, the Captain moved to the side where a water hose lay loose on the ground. Leon took the hint and remained at the tree, watching Ezrael using the hose to get the muddy dirt off the waterproof Apahanta suit.
A minute later, the Captain was finally done and had reached Leon. Placing the breathing mask on a bench, Ezrael smirked at his best friend. "You missed a lot of fun, Leon! Crawling on a mix of dirt and the crew's poop, and the best about it is that it will save our lives!" Smiling widely at the surferboy, Ezrael signaled him to sit down at one of the benches while he himself closed the bulkhead to the new hydroponics. There was no need for the poop smell to reach the apple tree.
"You know, I wanted to talk with you if you have time right now," Leon said quietly, watching the massive doors shut rather quickly, sealing the tree garden away from the smelly extension.
"I'm done for today. Sombs and I do the rest tomorrow together with Lorena. She was helping us here. It really was funny," Ezrael explained while getting closer to Leon, eventually sitting down next to him, facing the apple tree. Red fruits with little bright dots were hanging at the branches. A fruitful investition, Ezrael thought with a smirk on his lips. "What is it, though? Bad news?"
Leon shook his head. "No, nothing work-related. I was thinking about the entire situation, Ez. I might have said some unfair things I wanted to apologize for." Yet before Leon could continue, Ezrael interrupted him.
"No, you were right, Leon." Having his mouth slightly opened, Leon gave him a confused look. "I made a mistake. I deployed the Apahanta without evacuating the non-combat crew to Livadia. I brought the ship into a battle with enemies we only know so much about. I underestimated VS-0074. It has the ability to call in reinforcements with a hyperspace beacon, and those were stronger than assumed. So we got hit. I did not give the order to retreat the moment the Apahanta took the first major damages but instead insisted on remaining at the battlefield for artillery fire. And then I gave order to jump out without coordinate calculation. This is all my fault," Ezrael explained, smiling however. "And it is no secret I am an hedonistic idiot. It is something I had plenty of time to think about in the recent days. You know, you're not the only person calling me that. Maren did the same."
"Still, I shouldn't have done it. We have other problems here. Bigger problems." Leon shook his head, facing the tree. "We don't need to create even more problems, so I wanted to take it back."
"You can't take it back, and you don't need to excuse for it. I appreciate the thought behind it, but you really don't need to. I mean, you didn't try to punch me this time, so we're making progress with you showing your anger," Ezrael replied with a cheeky smirk about the latter. Last time Leon was angry at him, on the Hoffnungsschimmer, it ended up with Leon getting knocked out during a fight. "In any case, I know my mistakes. And now I'm trying to make up for them. Those hydroponics will help us greatly, especially the soy and the potatoes. It will buy us time. Time you will need to figure out something to get us home. Any ideas so far?"
At first, Leon wanted to say something else, then however decided to reply to his question. "Only theoretical ideas that need me to research whether we can apply them. I am however wondering where the light is coming from."
Ezrael gave him a questioning stare. "Which light?"
After a sigh, Leon took a deep breath. "Okay, so... We are in a void region, alone with this stray black hole. No background stars, just this black hole. Why can we see it? Black holes are technically invisible, because they are so massive, they bend photons with their gravity and either absorb them or make them orbit the black hole, which would end up in invisible light. Our eyes and the ship's sensors can not detect this invisible light, because in order to detect light, our sensors would need to catch photons. So technically, we shouldn't be able to see the black hole when we look out of the window. Black hole on black background. However, we do see it. In Omicron Sigma for example, that is only the case because photons are colliding with the dense orbiting mass of photons around the black hole. They get reflected just strong enough for us to see the disk around the black hole. Those photons shot at the black hole are originating from background stars, from nebulae that reflect those light particles and other light sources. Here however are no light sources, apart from the Apahanta, which is, on a cosmical level, nothing."
Ezrael nodded in agreement. "What the fuck are you talking about."
"Sorry. Long story short, we shouldn't be able to see the black hole since there are no light sources around. Which creates room for new theories. Either that black hole is not a black hole but some other anomaly, or our laws of physics do not apply in this region for whatever reason, or there is a light source somewhere in this region, and it is possible that it is an invisible light source."
"What can we do check those theories? Move behind the black hole?" Ezrael asked, not really having a clue about any of this.
Leon shook his head slightly. "Actually, we have a good position where we are right now. Moving away from this location wouldn't help much. The anomaly is incredibly large. We would require a lot of time and engine power to get behind it, and if the source of light is invisible to us because the black hole bends the photons, we would just waste time. I do think the best bet we have right now is finding a way to harness the radiation that comes from the black hole." Once more Leon found confusion in the eyes of Ezrael.
"We can do that?"
"No. However the theory exists and the Apahanta's database actually has material on that topic as the Core must have been interested in black holes at some point. We have a unique setting here and with the help of the ship's AI, our sensors, the Handsome Rover and our workshop, we might be able to construct a device that can gather the Hawking radiation the black hole bursts out. We are relatively close to that fountain. A few days of cruise can get us there. The radiation however is very strong, it is like a giant beam of radiation. The Apahanta needs to stay away from that at all cost."
The Captain's head was lowered. "I mean, the only two people who know about this kind of things are you and Sherry. You could tell me anything here and I wouldn't understand it. Are you sure this could get us somewhere?"
"Not at all. That is why I need more time, to check on facts, compare the physical values and stuff. I need to refresh my knowledge, I could be horribly wrong with any of this, either by mixing up things or making wrong assumptions or because I didn't listen correctly to things I've learned during my training and all that."
There was a drop of water Ezrael saw on his chest. It was still from the quick cleaning with the water hose, and now the little drop was travelling down his chest in a slow way. It was well visible on the black rubber-esque material the Apahanta suits were made of. Pressing the oxygen out of his lungs, his chest turned more steep, making the drop moving faster. "Then I'll try everything to buy you time. We'll very likely need to ration everything on the ship. Food and energy and what not."
Leon followed Ezrael's look, watching the drop moving down on his abs. "It might take months, maybe even years. And, well, we're in an area where time is passing much faster than in Sirius, probably."
"Well, this just means Maren and Nancy aren't missing us yet, which is good. Maren is probably mad at me right now for not having waited for her at Livadia. Which is good because I rather have her mad at me than her thinking about us being dead." Ezrael turned towards Leon, smirking slightly. "I know it is hard for you to not be with Nancy right now, but you will see her again. I doubt we will die here, like this."
"I try my best, Captain." There was a feeling of frustration within Leon as Ezrael misunderstood him, but for the time being, he did not want to clarify it.
The Chief Engineer stopped infront of the door to his room, hesitating for a moment. His room was right next to Ezrael's. Looking over, he sighed and moved the few steps over to the Captain's door, pushing the button for the door bell. For seconds, nothing happened. Another push. Before Leon got to ask the Apahanta's AI for the location of the Captain, the voices of two giggling women filled the hallway. One voice was of Sombra, the other of Lorena Hawkins, the Shield Distribution Officer. The two women were leaving a lift, heading towards Leon however ignoring him for now, every now and then giggling about something Leon could not determine. Then however, Sombra threw a glance at him as they stopped infront of Lorena's quarter. "Ez' not in there. He's at the hydroponics if you're looking for him," she sounded, answering the question Leon didn't even get to voice. In return he merely nodded at her, watching them disappearing in Lorena's room.
The extension of the hydroponics was progressing relatively fast. The walls have been dismantled, the rooms emptied and with the assistance of service robots, Ezrael and Sombra managed to place the first hydroponical beds. The room had an unpleasant scent to it, originating from the soil they had mixed a few hours ago. Leon entered the hydroponics and moved through the old hydroponical section, heading for the apple tree at the end of the walkway. And there he spotted the Captain. Ezrael had his hair tied to a ponytail while wearing a breathing mask. The gloves and sleeves of this suit were dirty from the soil, just as his knees and boots were. Realizing he was not alone, Ezrael stood up from the hydroponic bed he was kneeing in, looking at the blonde. Giving him a hand sign, wanting him to wait at the tree, the Captain moved to the side where a water hose lay loose on the ground. Leon took the hint and remained at the tree, watching Ezrael using the hose to get the muddy dirt off the waterproof Apahanta suit.
A minute later, the Captain was finally done and had reached Leon. Placing the breathing mask on a bench, Ezrael smirked at his best friend. "You missed a lot of fun, Leon! Crawling on a mix of dirt and the crew's poop, and the best about it is that it will save our lives!" Smiling widely at the surferboy, Ezrael signaled him to sit down at one of the benches while he himself closed the bulkhead to the new hydroponics. There was no need for the poop smell to reach the apple tree.
"You know, I wanted to talk with you if you have time right now," Leon said quietly, watching the massive doors shut rather quickly, sealing the tree garden away from the smelly extension.
"I'm done for today. Sombs and I do the rest tomorrow together with Lorena. She was helping us here. It really was funny," Ezrael explained while getting closer to Leon, eventually sitting down next to him, facing the apple tree. Red fruits with little bright dots were hanging at the branches. A fruitful investition, Ezrael thought with a smirk on his lips. "What is it, though? Bad news?"
Leon shook his head. "No, nothing work-related. I was thinking about the entire situation, Ez. I might have said some unfair things I wanted to apologize for." Yet before Leon could continue, Ezrael interrupted him.
"No, you were right, Leon." Having his mouth slightly opened, Leon gave him a confused look. "I made a mistake. I deployed the Apahanta without evacuating the non-combat crew to Livadia. I brought the ship into a battle with enemies we only know so much about. I underestimated VS-0074. It has the ability to call in reinforcements with a hyperspace beacon, and those were stronger than assumed. So we got hit. I did not give the order to retreat the moment the Apahanta took the first major damages but instead insisted on remaining at the battlefield for artillery fire. And then I gave order to jump out without coordinate calculation. This is all my fault," Ezrael explained, smiling however. "And it is no secret I am an hedonistic idiot. It is something I had plenty of time to think about in the recent days. You know, you're not the only person calling me that. Maren did the same."
"Still, I shouldn't have done it. We have other problems here. Bigger problems." Leon shook his head, facing the tree. "We don't need to create even more problems, so I wanted to take it back."
"You can't take it back, and you don't need to excuse for it. I appreciate the thought behind it, but you really don't need to. I mean, you didn't try to punch me this time, so we're making progress with you showing your anger," Ezrael replied with a cheeky smirk about the latter. Last time Leon was angry at him, on the Hoffnungsschimmer, it ended up with Leon getting knocked out during a fight. "In any case, I know my mistakes. And now I'm trying to make up for them. Those hydroponics will help us greatly, especially the soy and the potatoes. It will buy us time. Time you will need to figure out something to get us home. Any ideas so far?"
At first, Leon wanted to say something else, then however decided to reply to his question. "Only theoretical ideas that need me to research whether we can apply them. I am however wondering where the light is coming from."
Ezrael gave him a questioning stare. "Which light?"
After a sigh, Leon took a deep breath. "Okay, so... We are in a void region, alone with this stray black hole. No background stars, just this black hole. Why can we see it? Black holes are technically invisible, because they are so massive, they bend photons with their gravity and either absorb them or make them orbit the black hole, which would end up in invisible light. Our eyes and the ship's sensors can not detect this invisible light, because in order to detect light, our sensors would need to catch photons. So technically, we shouldn't be able to see the black hole when we look out of the window. Black hole on black background. However, we do see it. In Omicron Sigma for example, that is only the case because photons are colliding with the dense orbiting mass of photons around the black hole. They get reflected just strong enough for us to see the disk around the black hole. Those photons shot at the black hole are originating from background stars, from nebulae that reflect those light particles and other light sources. Here however are no light sources, apart from the Apahanta, which is, on a cosmical level, nothing."
Ezrael nodded in agreement. "What the fuck are you talking about."
"Sorry. Long story short, we shouldn't be able to see the black hole since there are no light sources around. Which creates room for new theories. Either that black hole is not a black hole but some other anomaly, or our laws of physics do not apply in this region for whatever reason, or there is a light source somewhere in this region, and it is possible that it is an invisible light source."
"What can we do check those theories? Move behind the black hole?" Ezrael asked, not really having a clue about any of this.
Leon shook his head slightly. "Actually, we have a good position where we are right now. Moving away from this location wouldn't help much. The anomaly is incredibly large. We would require a lot of time and engine power to get behind it, and if the source of light is invisible to us because the black hole bends the photons, we would just waste time. I do think the best bet we have right now is finding a way to harness the radiation that comes from the black hole." Once more Leon found confusion in the eyes of Ezrael.
"We can do that?"
"No. However the theory exists and the Apahanta's database actually has material on that topic as the Core must have been interested in black holes at some point. We have a unique setting here and with the help of the ship's AI, our sensors, the Handsome Rover and our workshop, we might be able to construct a device that can gather the Hawking radiation the black hole bursts out. We are relatively close to that fountain. A few days of cruise can get us there. The radiation however is very strong, it is like a giant beam of radiation. The Apahanta needs to stay away from that at all cost."
The Captain's head was lowered. "I mean, the only two people who know about this kind of things are you and Sherry. You could tell me anything here and I wouldn't understand it. Are you sure this could get us somewhere?"
"Not at all. That is why I need more time, to check on facts, compare the physical values and stuff. I need to refresh my knowledge, I could be horribly wrong with any of this, either by mixing up things or making wrong assumptions or because I didn't listen correctly to things I've learned during my training and all that."
There was a drop of water Ezrael saw on his chest. It was still from the quick cleaning with the water hose, and now the little drop was travelling down his chest in a slow way. It was well visible on the black rubber-esque material the Apahanta suits were made of. Pressing the oxygen out of his lungs, his chest turned more steep, making the drop moving faster. "Then I'll try everything to buy you time. We'll very likely need to ration everything on the ship. Food and energy and what not."
Leon followed Ezrael's look, watching the drop moving down on his abs. "It might take months, maybe even years. And, well, we're in an area where time is passing much faster than in Sirius, probably."
"Well, this just means Maren and Nancy aren't missing us yet, which is good. Maren is probably mad at me right now for not having waited for her at Livadia. Which is good because I rather have her mad at me than her thinking about us being dead." Ezrael turned towards Leon, smirking slightly. "I know it is hard for you to not be with Nancy right now, but you will see her again. I doubt we will die here, like this."
"I try my best, Captain." There was a feeling of frustration within Leon as Ezrael misunderstood him, but for the time being, he did not want to clarify it.
RE: Out of bounds - Sombs - 05-05-2018
Day 6 - Location unknown
![[Image: HFFpdgq.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/HFFpdgq.gif)
It was the sixth day.
Ezrael opened his eyes. It was time to wake up. "Apahanta, please turn on the light and my music playlist." And a beep later, the room was illuminated in a sunrise-esque orange, the wall-monitors turned active and the Captain's music began to play. His head turned to the side, just to find Sombra laying next to him, sleeping like a rock. With a smirk on his face, he placed a peck on her cheek. Then he turned to his other side and smirked at Lorena. "I'm afraid we'll neet do get up now," Ezrael sounded, slowly removing the blanket to uncover the three of them.
"Good morning, Commander!" Ezrael sounded as he and Sombra entered the canteen for breakfast. Sombra got used to this ritual, this schedule. It was nice to sit at the table with so many awesome people, she thought. And the crew liked her as well. And just like that, she had grabbed the opportunity to gift the Captain with twice as much attention as he was used to, here on the ship. Lorena joined them later at the table, mostly to not make it too obvious she was with them all night.
While they sat at the table and more and more of the crew joined them, Ezrael turned more and more silent. Five days ago, this crew was halved, reduced to only twelve people. But right now there was no trace of depression coming from the crew. At least not in this moment. With one exception. The one man who wanted to return home more than anyone else wanted to. Leon.
Breakfast was over and most people stood up to bring their trays away and get back to work. The Captain, Leon and Sombra remained seated. The contrast between Leon and Sombra couldn't have been more obvious. She was smiling and laughing, Leon was in thoughts and kept his eyes on the bowl of cereals infront of him. "A credit for your thoughts, Leon."
Dragged out of his train of thoughts, Leon looked up, giving Ezrael a slightly surprised look. "Ouh, not much, really."
"I know your face would have looked differently if you had thought about 'not much'. You were either thinking about a solution to our problems or about what you're going to do once we're back in Sirius. I guess Nancy should prepare her butt already?" Ezrael glanced at him with a cheeky smirk while Sombra tried to hide a burp from them.
"None of it. Or, sort of. I read up on time dilation last night and found out that the difference of time passing is not that much, even in a supervoid. This means we might only be a few minutes faster than Sirius. Maybe an hour, if those minutes add up. This means-"
Ezrael interrupted him. "You know, the more time you waste on trying to guess how much time is passing faster here than in Sirius, you're wasting time you could spend on anything that is more helpful than that. You could either work on a solution, or you could laugh with us, or with your little romance over there."
Slightly blushing, Leon followed Ezrael's eyes and saw Annie standing at the buffet, pilfering an apple and a banana for later before leaving the canteen. Then he faced Ezrael again, then Sombra, who smirked widely at him. "You two are a couple?" Sombra asked him in an amused and curious way.
Feeling uncomfortably about it, Leon shook his head. "I don't have time for that."
"You have," Ezrael said, looking into his eyes. "You have been working almost non-stop in the recent days. You should do something to relax, and what could be better than spending time with a cute girl like her?"
There was a sudden aggressive sigh leaving Leon's mouth. "I'm not surprised you two enjoy this, being out here without needing to fear any consequences. You have all the things you want here on the ship, and Maren is not here. And the troubles that come with her aren't here either. But I have someone at home in Sirius that is waiting for me to return. And I don't know how long she will wait for me." Standing up, Leon took his tray and left the table.
First looking after him, then glancing to her side where Ezrael was sitting with her, Sombra's smile was gone first, although it reappeared immediately again. "So are they a couple or not?" she asked him with a lopsided smirk.
Ezrael however exhaled and blinked, watching Leon returning his tray to the counter. "I thought they are just good friends but when Leon said he wanted to leave the Apahanta, she kissed him as a goodbye. Elena and I saw it, it was awkward. Annie is a bit smaller than Maren, and Maren always needs to tiptoe when she is kissing me. Back then I saw how funny that looks when Annie kissed Leon. Anyway, I don't know how it is now with them." Turning his head to Sombra, he looked at her tray. "He is under great stress, that much is obvious. Yesterday I had a nice talk with him where he tried to explain time dilation to me, but I didn't quite get what he wanted to explain until later. Time is passing a bit faster here. That means, if one hour in Sirius is one hour in general, one hour out here is an unknown amount of time more than in Sirius. If that is true and applying here, Maren and Nancy might have forgotten about us already, Gallia might have won the war against Bretonia and Liberty already and all that. However, if what he just said is true, the difference of time is not that big. Hours maybe, as he said. Which is sort of soothing."
A complex topic, Sombra thought, followed by her shaking her head. "Things we don't really need to worry about. No matter how the wars in Sirius end, we won't notice much of it here, which is good. No Gallia, no Lane Hackers. No nomads, Ez." There was something about what she just said that made Ezrael feel weird about it. He was unable to identify that feeling and what exactly triggered it. Sombra placed a hand on his thigh, under the table. "What are we going to do today? I guess the hydroponics?"
"Yes." He lowered his head slightly, glancing at her hand on his thigh. What a weird thought. Maren was in Sirius. He could not even imagine what she was doing right now. Was she taking care of Mittens? Was she searching for him? Was she thinking he was dead? Was she trying to get his belongings? Would she be able to pay the rent for the bungalow on Curacao?
Would she be Unschuld again?
"Yes, the hydroponics. We're almost done there, just a few more things until the KSRs can do the rest. I..." he began, taking her hand at his thigh, cupping it, on the table, "I will also need you to help me with the cryo capsules. We might need them sooner or later, and we need to find out whether they are still working."
"Oh, okay?" Seeing him smiling at her, she returned a smile as well. It was a nice feeling to be helpful.
Ezrael opened his eyes. It was time to wake up. "Apahanta, please turn on the light and my music playlist." And a beep later, the room was illuminated in a sunrise-esque orange, the wall-monitors turned active and the Captain's music began to play. His head turned to the side, just to find Sombra laying next to him, sleeping like a rock. With a smirk on his face, he placed a peck on her cheek. Then he turned to his other side and smirked at Lorena. "I'm afraid we'll neet do get up now," Ezrael sounded, slowly removing the blanket to uncover the three of them.
"Good morning, Commander!" Ezrael sounded as he and Sombra entered the canteen for breakfast. Sombra got used to this ritual, this schedule. It was nice to sit at the table with so many awesome people, she thought. And the crew liked her as well. And just like that, she had grabbed the opportunity to gift the Captain with twice as much attention as he was used to, here on the ship. Lorena joined them later at the table, mostly to not make it too obvious she was with them all night.
While they sat at the table and more and more of the crew joined them, Ezrael turned more and more silent. Five days ago, this crew was halved, reduced to only twelve people. But right now there was no trace of depression coming from the crew. At least not in this moment. With one exception. The one man who wanted to return home more than anyone else wanted to. Leon.
Breakfast was over and most people stood up to bring their trays away and get back to work. The Captain, Leon and Sombra remained seated. The contrast between Leon and Sombra couldn't have been more obvious. She was smiling and laughing, Leon was in thoughts and kept his eyes on the bowl of cereals infront of him. "A credit for your thoughts, Leon."
Dragged out of his train of thoughts, Leon looked up, giving Ezrael a slightly surprised look. "Ouh, not much, really."
"I know your face would have looked differently if you had thought about 'not much'. You were either thinking about a solution to our problems or about what you're going to do once we're back in Sirius. I guess Nancy should prepare her butt already?" Ezrael glanced at him with a cheeky smirk while Sombra tried to hide a burp from them.
"None of it. Or, sort of. I read up on time dilation last night and found out that the difference of time passing is not that much, even in a supervoid. This means we might only be a few minutes faster than Sirius. Maybe an hour, if those minutes add up. This means-"
Ezrael interrupted him. "You know, the more time you waste on trying to guess how much time is passing faster here than in Sirius, you're wasting time you could spend on anything that is more helpful than that. You could either work on a solution, or you could laugh with us, or with your little romance over there."
Slightly blushing, Leon followed Ezrael's eyes and saw Annie standing at the buffet, pilfering an apple and a banana for later before leaving the canteen. Then he faced Ezrael again, then Sombra, who smirked widely at him. "You two are a couple?" Sombra asked him in an amused and curious way.
Feeling uncomfortably about it, Leon shook his head. "I don't have time for that."
"You have," Ezrael said, looking into his eyes. "You have been working almost non-stop in the recent days. You should do something to relax, and what could be better than spending time with a cute girl like her?"
There was a sudden aggressive sigh leaving Leon's mouth. "I'm not surprised you two enjoy this, being out here without needing to fear any consequences. You have all the things you want here on the ship, and Maren is not here. And the troubles that come with her aren't here either. But I have someone at home in Sirius that is waiting for me to return. And I don't know how long she will wait for me." Standing up, Leon took his tray and left the table.
First looking after him, then glancing to her side where Ezrael was sitting with her, Sombra's smile was gone first, although it reappeared immediately again. "So are they a couple or not?" she asked him with a lopsided smirk.
Ezrael however exhaled and blinked, watching Leon returning his tray to the counter. "I thought they are just good friends but when Leon said he wanted to leave the Apahanta, she kissed him as a goodbye. Elena and I saw it, it was awkward. Annie is a bit smaller than Maren, and Maren always needs to tiptoe when she is kissing me. Back then I saw how funny that looks when Annie kissed Leon. Anyway, I don't know how it is now with them." Turning his head to Sombra, he looked at her tray. "He is under great stress, that much is obvious. Yesterday I had a nice talk with him where he tried to explain time dilation to me, but I didn't quite get what he wanted to explain until later. Time is passing a bit faster here. That means, if one hour in Sirius is one hour in general, one hour out here is an unknown amount of time more than in Sirius. If that is true and applying here, Maren and Nancy might have forgotten about us already, Gallia might have won the war against Bretonia and Liberty already and all that. However, if what he just said is true, the difference of time is not that big. Hours maybe, as he said. Which is sort of soothing."
A complex topic, Sombra thought, followed by her shaking her head. "Things we don't really need to worry about. No matter how the wars in Sirius end, we won't notice much of it here, which is good. No Gallia, no Lane Hackers. No nomads, Ez." There was something about what she just said that made Ezrael feel weird about it. He was unable to identify that feeling and what exactly triggered it. Sombra placed a hand on his thigh, under the table. "What are we going to do today? I guess the hydroponics?"
"Yes." He lowered his head slightly, glancing at her hand on his thigh. What a weird thought. Maren was in Sirius. He could not even imagine what she was doing right now. Was she taking care of Mittens? Was she searching for him? Was she thinking he was dead? Was she trying to get his belongings? Would she be able to pay the rent for the bungalow on Curacao?
Would she be Unschuld again?
"Yes, the hydroponics. We're almost done there, just a few more things until the KSRs can do the rest. I..." he began, taking her hand at his thigh, cupping it, on the table, "I will also need you to help me with the cryo capsules. We might need them sooner or later, and we need to find out whether they are still working."
"Oh, okay?" Seeing him smiling at her, she returned a smile as well. It was a nice feeling to be helpful.