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Galaxian · (This post was last modified: 04-30-2018, 07:32 AM by Galaxian.)

"Correspondence"

I was just waking up, still docked on Corinth.
I've learned to sleep in my ship, as its small quarters are better than any bunk or room on a station.
It may be a hassle when you need to go somewhere else on the station, but it feels more like home.
My own bed, a small area to sit. The only things missing are a kitchen and a shower.

I had just gotten out of bed when the ship's systems rang out "Message Received!"
It was somewhat of a surprise when I looked and saw it was from my father.
I never expected him to reply so fast, as he's always up to something.
I sat down at my tiny table, taking a bottle of whiskey and a rock glass from a cubbyhole.
I poured a drink, sipping as I opened the message.

COMMUNICATIONS LOG

I sank into my seat with a gulp from my glass.
I had suspected everything pops said.
To actually be told was something else.

Well...it explains a lot.
Although, I'm not sure I'd have fully believed it if he hadn't said so himself.

I finished my glass, still re-reading the message.
"He said he'll be in Omicron Delta soon..."
I wondered what he'd be coming out this way for.
"Probably best if I don't pry, but it will be nice to see him."

Galaxian · (This post was last modified: 05-03-2018, 06:20 AM by Galaxian.)

"Mental Intrusion"

03 May, 825 AS
Omicron Kappa, near Corinth Research Station

I came to consciousness in my ship, floating near Corinth.
A large Nomad ship was cruising away.
My mind felt tired, and almost "stretched".
I wasn't sure how I had gotten out here.
Last thing I remembered, I was having a nice tea.

I immediately checked my guncam footage.
What I found both disturbed and frightened me.
It would seem I may have encountered a Nomad.

[Image: WMEUSGY.png]

As I saw the footage, some pieces of memory came back.
I remembered it approaching, and feeling like someone else was in my mind.
I didn't remember much else, and so I checked my black box.

Black Box Tapes

It was like I was talking to myself...
Very little memory remained.
Though, I vaguely remembered a voice in my head.
Was I responding to it?

I wondered if that pilot who docked heard me.
He had said "Not again".
Has he experienced this before, too?

I docked on Corinth, and went straight to the bar.
I ordered a bottle of rum, and took it to a corner table.
I sat, and began to drink.

My mind raced.
"How am I still alive?
Was it all a dream?
No, it can't have been...
My black box...the guncam footage..."

I shook my head to myself.
The bartender seemed to notice something was wrong.

He approached me, "You alright?" he asked gingerly.

"Y-yeah...I think so." I replied shakily. "I think I encountered a Nomad...I don't remember."

"Ah..." he simply said, and walked away seeming to understand.

And so I sat, and drank.
I drank, and drank until the bottle was half gone.
Then, I got up and stumbled back to my ship.

I fell to my bed with a low thud, and passed out promptly...

I dreamed of Nomad ships surrounding all four houses' habitable planets...
Unknown technologies...
People living in blind harmony...
Masked officers with glowing eyes.
A voice speaking to me, calling itself "Elune".

I shot awake...
I felt like I just remembered much of the encounter...

I curled up tightly in my bed, pulling the covers over my head.
I never did get to sleep again...

The Dream

Galaxian · (This post was last modified: 05-05-2018, 01:01 PM by Galaxian.)

"Visit"

A message came as I was just falling asleep.
I waited until I was awake, however, to check it.
It was from my father.
It simply said "I'm sorry, I may be a lot late. Meet me on Freeport 11 tomorrow."
I was expecting him to do something like this.

I was a touch disappointed, though not surprised.
It didn't matter we had recently agreed on today.
Father is known for being a flake sometimes.
He likely got distracted by some silly thing with friends.
But I know he'll still arrive, he always keeps his word.

I quickly had some breakfast, and decided to be early.
I was growing bored of this place anyhow.
Relieved I may soon see pops, I flew out to the Omicron Delta hole.

If I thought Omicron Kappa was striking, it was because I'd never been to Omicron Delta.
Much like Kappa, the system reminded me of a tunnel.
Only, this one seemed sinister.
I stared into it for only a moment after arriving at Freeport 11.

[Image: qZuYHh6.png]

I wasn't sure if it was the way the whole system seemed darker...
Or the way the light played off the interior of my ship...
But I felt like this place could swallow my soul.
I landed, and made for the bar.

"Can I get a Whiskey neat?" I asked the bartender.

He smiled at me. "Sorry, fresh out of Whiskey...can I offer you something else?"

"Rum, then." I said plainly, disappointed.

"Expecting someone?" The barkeep asked as he handed me my glass.

"Yeah actually, how did you know?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Could it be that guy waving and pointing?" He indicated behind me.

I turned around expecting to see my father miraculously be early himself.
But, instead I was truly surprised.

"Not who I was expecting at all! But he's my friend." I said to the barkeep, surprised and happy.

There sat 'Bear', with presumably the last bottle of Whiskey and a dumb smile on his face.
I couldn't hide my surprise as I made to his table, grinning like a fool.
"Hey dude!" I said, helping myself to a seat...and his bottle.

"So this is where you went huh? Not like you really told anyone." He said, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Yeah, about that...." I started, but he cut me off.

"At least tell your friends dude!" He sounded a bit annoyed.

"You're right." I simply said, still grinning.

'Bear' and I had become pretty good pals, despite the age gap.
...and the fact that he was my father's friend first.

We sat and drank.

My father never did arrive, though.

Galaxian · (This post was last modified: 05-12-2018, 10:00 AM by Galaxian.)

"Return"

12 May, 825 A.S.
Freeport 11, Omicron Delta

Still waiting...
I have yet to hear a single word from my father.
He never arrived, and it has been quite a while now.
I've begun to worry, and will be heading home.
What the hell is going on? This isn't like him.

I wanted to push deeper into the Omicrons...
However, the situation at hand does not allow that.
Pops, you better be okay...

The one thing about him is that, he at least will warn you.
Or posthumously apologize for never showing.
Neither has happened, and that is a genuine cause for alarm.
I'm halfway expecting to just find him on a bender...drunk and passed out.
Or maybe that's just hope...

Besides, with all the shuttles back to Liberty so I can work, and then the shuttles back, --
-- it's starting to make my funding shrink.
So into the cockpit I crawled, coordinates set.
Liberty-bound, and a bit pissed off...I didn't want to go back there like this...
Freeport 11 shrank into the distance behind.
At least I have exciting news for him when I return.

Galaxian · 06-19-2018, 01:54 AM,

"Goodnight."

18 June, 825 A.S.
Beaumont, Texas

Things had not gone as hoped.

I returned to Liberty about one month ago now.

Though I had been expecting my Father when I knocked,
My arrival at my old man's place was met by a somber-looking 'Bear' behind that door.
When our eyes met his expression went from somber to regret, then his face contorted into an ugly look as he cried.
"H-he's gone!" he wailed through sobs, unable to say any more.

I pushed my way in, and fell to the floor in shock.
"What do you mean gone?!" I imagine I sounded a bit incredulous.

Once he had calmed down enough, 'Bear' explained through sniffles that my Father had died in his sleep.
Apparent heart attack, much too young for this...

I sat in shock for what seemed hours.

------
------
------

The funeral proceedings were small.
Aside from 'Bear' and I only a few folks were there...
Mostly friends of pops coming to pay respect.
My mother didn't even show...

Per his long time final wishes, we loaded up his casket-capsule and took to the stars.
Destination: The Puerto Rican Rift

With a final "Thanks pops. For everything."
and 'Bear' choking out a "Goodnight, my brother."
we dropped the capsule marked

Rust in Pieces

Nikola Howler

758 - 825

Father, brother, friend.

with a Whiskey salute and a few tears.
Then made way back to Beaumont in silence.

Galaxian · (This post was last modified: 08-20-2018, 04:19 AM by Galaxian.)

"Adrift."

Somewhere in Omega-11.

Despite the warnings, I straggled behind in Omega-11, hoping to catch a final glimpse before the system's inevitable death.
Hugging the Dresden jump hole, ready to ditch the moment I saw anything to indicate it was beginning, I waited.
Everyone else was, as most would say, smart. They left, got out while it was safe to do so.
I would soon learn that I should have left as well.

Deciding it was becoming too unsafe, with the intense (more so than indeed the Abgrund ever had been) radiation mounting on me, I went through the hole.
Where I ended up, however, was not Dresden.
It was not any place I recognized, for that matter.
A glance at my Navigation systems told me what I had feared.
I was almost certainly lost, for the screen displayed nothing but a flashing "FATAL ERROR DETECTED."

I spun my ship about, and took in my surroundings.
I was in an apparently dead system, occupied mostly, it seemed, by a large dust cloud.
I could see no sign of a star, but the pinging from my radiation detectors had stopped, so I didn't much care.
I did, however, care about the fact that even after a reset, a second reset, a full shutdown, and a bit of tinkering, my Navigation still had no clue where I was.
"Ah, great..." I said aloud, defeated and admittedly scared.

A few tubes of Synth Paste, and maybe a single tube of Synth Gel were all I had in the way of sustenance.
With very little water, and one bottle of Whiskey to drink, I knew I was screwed. Alcohol only dehydrates, no use to me in this situation.
I could hold out hope and search for a jump connection out of this unknown place, maybe I'd get lucky...I could also run out of food.
Or, I could activate emergency protocols, and enter reefersleep. But then I'd be relying only my ship's outdated and sometimes glitchy AI to keep me safely in cryostasis, and find a jump hole - something I imagined to be quite a task for it.

Things looked dark for me, either way.
Wishing for a better option than I had, I thought it out, while also internally panicking.
After what seemed like perhaps an hour, I resigned myself to the fact that it would be safer to sleep it out...at least if I was never found for years, I'd be found alive.
And so it was decided, and I put myself to sleep.

*********************************

Unknown location, unknown date.

"D'you think he's alright? How long d'you reckon he was under?"
An obviously Bretonian man was saying, though I found it hard to open my eyes just yet.
My body felt stiff, and stuck. "Must be found...good..." I thought, my brain feeling sluggish.
"Can't 'ave been long, I'd recognize Nikola's old ship anywhere...so this must be..."
"Ian, yes." I cut the man off, struggling to speak more than a whisper. But I was heard, apparently, and judging by the relieved sighs the two men (that I knew of) heaved.

"Damn sight lucky we found you, you are!" said the first man. His voice, I noticed now, sounded not unlike a growling dog.
"Quite..." Began the other man, whom I recognized by voice to be none other than my father's old friend Pete. "But how the hell'd you end up like that to begin with?"

I wanted to wave them off, but it was all I could to to even open my eyes.
My vision swam very slowly into focus and I immediately noticed I was definitely planetside.
"First," I wheezed, and then coughed a little. My voice seemed to come back a bit. "First tell me where the hell I am."

"New London, chap." said the growling man, offering me a glass of water.

I waved it off, weakly. My arm felt leaden and tingly. "Something stronger, perhaps?" But he seemed to insist.

So, after a large gulp to refresh me, I told them all that had happened.
About Omega-11, about straggling behind, about the jump hole, and about where I ended up.
I told them about my Navigation system, and my decision to preserve myself.

"But we found you drifting about 300k from the star in Poole" Pete said when I finished, an air of confusion about his voice.
"Ar, and your ship was a mess. Thought we'd found a wreck, honestly. Until we scanned it..." The growling man interjected.
He seemed to notice the way I was looking at him, because he added, shaking his head a bit. "No, no, she's in one piece, don't worry. Nothing some new hull panels won't fix."

"Your dad's old Twilights, though..." Pete started, then made a sound not unlike a mouse being stepped on.

I felt my heart sink.
It was true that I didn't like those guns, and it was true they got me in more sticky situations than they got me out of, but to hear that gave my heart a twinge of pain. They had given my father his sending-off salute when 'Bear' and I had laid him to rest...and now they had joined him in death.

Some days passed, and I made my way back toward Rheinland. My father's passing had made residing in Liberty too painful, and news of the Omega-2 system had somehow, despite my experience, re-ignited the diamond fever in me. I was relieved to find it a bit safer than Omega-11 had ever been.
Though, it resembles Omega-11 so closely, with its fiery glow that seems to threaten an explosion...

If that day ever comes, I hope nobody is as foolhardy as I was.

Galaxian · 08-22-2018, 04:42 AM,

"Deep Space."

Tarancon Station, Omicron Minor.
August 21, 825

I sat alone, a dwindling bottle of Whiskey in front of me.
The bar was empty, save for the bartender and myself.
Despite the now nearly empty bottle, I felt sharp and aware, nowhere near drunk.
Vivid recollection of my near-death played smoothly, over and over, on a loop in my mind.

Pete and the man with the growling voice (I hadn't ever learned his name) said they found me in Poole.
But, then, how did I end up there? The black box was blank, completely and totally blank.
The guncam had seemingly malfunctioned, it recorded nothingness for a couple days until it was out of storage.
Nothing to give a clue, except my memory. Not that it would give me much, seeing as I'd put myself under after weighing the odds.

Many ideas, each more ludicrous than the last, came to me.
Perhaps it wasn't an unknown place, but then why didn't the Navigation know where I was?
Or maybe that dust cloud interfered with it, but then why didn't it simply do as usual and alert me of it?
For a moment, I considered Nomads, but then I shook the thought from my mind. I'd be dead, if that were the case.

I didn't dare to tell anybody, for fear that they'd think me insane.
Never had I wished so hard to remember something.
Then, it occurred to me.
What if I was just that far out? To where I was technically not in Poole, but rather in deep space?

It seemed to make sense at first.
Nobody in their right mind would purposely fly far enough out to lose sight of a star...at least not in a CSF.
But then, a nagging thought came to mind.
"Even then, your ship was in shambles. It couldn't have been in cruise, that's for sure.
Pete and the growling guy said they thought it was a wreck at first...Pete recognized the ship, sure, but it definitely appeared to be trashed."
My mood sank a bit, and I put my head in my hands.

I did not hear the approaching footsteps.

"So!" I heard 'Bear' say, to my right. "Lost, were you?" He laughed, though it sounded forced.
I looked at him coldly, not feeling up to telling the story.
"Yeah..." I spat. "I damn near died, too."
"Well I'm damn glad you didn't." He was grinning his usual grin at me, though this too seemed forced.
I looked at him suspiciously. Why in the hell did he seem so awkward?
He seemed to notice, because he dropped the grin immediately.

Looking at the floor, he spoke tonelessly.
"It's your own damn fault, brother. You knew the risks, and you took the chance.
Don't expect pity from me, not one ounce. You're my friend, but that was a stupid thing to do."
Anger seemed to creep into his voice now, and he continued.
"I was worried about what might have happened to you.
A month with no word, nobody knowing where you were.
I started to think you were dead, that maybe..." He was interrupted.

The bartender was ushering us out, and we soon found ourselves walking to the hangars.
The conversation was still, to my annoyance, on track.

"So, I take it you spoke to Pete?" I asked.
"Yeah, he sent word right after you left New London." He said plainly.
"Well, I don't really feel like reliving it right now, so don't go asking me what happened."
"No need, I heard already. Right down to..." 'Bear' stopped walking, and talking.

Obviously he was about to let something slip, but thought the better of it.

"Saw what?" I demanded, but 'Bear' was looking at the ceiling.
So I pressed. "What the hell did you see?" The frustration in my voice was unmasked.
'Bear' heaved a sigh, then said. "Pete made me promise I wouldn't tell you..."
He was still looking at the ceiling, so I punched him in the arm, hard.
"Tell me what?" I said, trying to sound more friendly despite having just hit him.
'Bear' heaved another great sigh.
"He wiped your black box, and he wiped your guncam. Said that it would have just depressed you."
He sounded somber now, and I saw that his eyes were now fixed on me.

Then, he continued speaking, guilt lacing his voice.
"You were in deep space for nearly a month. Just sorta drifting in the general direction of Poole. You were in cryo-sleep or whatever you call it."

He had confirmed what I had doubted.
So I had wound up in deep space somehow.
"Thought so..." I said, adding. "And, I know I was frozen. Did it myself, it seemed like the safest bet."
"Ah." He said, obviously not expecting that.

"Hey, did you fly here or did you hitch a ride?" I asked, changing the subject.
"Came on a shuttle, heard you were here." He replied, looking relieved that I changed the subject.
"Wanna fly to Vieques with me?" I asked.
"Why not? Could be a good time." He said, grinning at me. "It's good to have you back, brother."
"It's good to be back."

And so we set out.

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