07 October 818 AS Currently onboard the CFS Terminus, Jack's Quarters
0730 HOURS Sector Position: Omicron Lost, in orbit around the 'Pink Princess', Sector Y-12-33-A3
Jack surprised the small group with his gesture. The old flintlock pistol, a family heirloom was still working, after almost one thousand years of age. Jack continued to reload, action and fire the gun, watching the sparkle that ignited the black powder.
Frederich Kassel: Mein Lord, even the main battery of the Terminus is more silent than that thing...
Jack pulled out from underneath the desk a small oak case, the box of the handgun
Frederich Kassel: May I see that?
Jack Aubrey: Of course, you should read the metal plate underneath..
Jack gave the handgun and the box to Frederich, the handgun was crafted by a famous smithy and gunmaster of London, during the Napoleonic Wars, back on Sol. The weapon was unique, laminated in silver with a rather elegant mahogany handgrip. The weapon was crafted for Sir Horatio Nelson, admiral of the Royal Navy. The bow had the year 1812 engraved right under the locking mechanism of the box.
Frederich Kassel: So, zhe commandant has Nelson as an ancestor? Rather interesting. Wasn't he the famous admiral who fought at the battle of Trafalgar?
Jack Aubrey: Indeed, but now, since I've cleared my mind, I have an announcement to make. Now, since I think that you should know, being my friends and probably the people that I trust most, lets head on the bridge. I have to show you something.
Dave finally saw that Jack's mood was changing in a positive way, still he kept something very secret even from them but he was about to show them soon. When he saw the things are coming back into "normal parameters" he continued..
Dave : So it's settled then, we are all good to hear the mistery you kept from us.. so shall we ?
He waited for the rest to get up and followed Jack to the Terminus's Bridge.
Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding. - Sovereign
07 October 818 AS Currently onboard the CFS Terminus, CIC deck..
0730 HOURS Sector Position: Omicron Lost, in orbit around the 'Pink Princess', Sector Y-12-33-A3
The small officer group walked towards the Combat Information Center, for a small debriefing on their mission. The expedition that will lead them deep within Gallia.
While they were walking, Jack, with a rather serene look explained their mission briefly
Jack Aubrey : I'm sorry if I gave you a reason to worry for me, it's just that this mission will be hard to accomplish, the mission will he hard... the chances of surviving are slim.
Dave was watching closely each move and word of Jack. And when he heared about the rather dramatic situation of the upcoming mission he was a bit surprised.
Dave : Chances to survive are slim ? Jack for me... the first moments on the Omicrons were slim chances of survival, we've all seen lots of mysterious things. If it needs a bigger effort, we will do it !
He then gave Jack a friendly smile showing him that he will follow his friend, on each dark corner of the whole Sirius and ... maybe beyond when the time will call.
Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding. - Sovereign
07 October 818 AS Currently onboard the CFS Terminus, Joe's quarters..
0730 HOURS Sector Position: Omicron Lost, in orbit around the 'Pink Princess', Sector Y-12-33-A3
Joe was cleaning his weapons and his old knife which he always carried with him. He knew that sacrifices could be made when he joined Cerberus, but he never thought it would get this close...
Joe thought out loud : It will be a bad thing for morale if i show that i am a little bit concerned about our expedition...
Joe stares at his old knife and suddenly looks confident
Joe : This is madness, we have got an inspiring leader who knows what he is doing and what we are capable of.
He looked down at his cleaned gear, stuck his knife back in the holster and grabbed a cigar
Joe : Let's check up on the men and see if they need a morale boost
Joe smiles while he lights his cigar, then he walks out of his quarters leaving a trail of smoke...
07 October 818 AS Currently onboard the CFS Terminus, Bar..
0820 HOURS Sector Position: Omicron 54, Warping towards Omicron Minor.
The Terminus was swiftly warping towards Omicron Minor, all the main batteries were shut down to power the massive jump drive installed onboard, a strange lightning totally covered the flagship, then the whole metallic mass started to move while the several speakers on the deck said 'Brace for jumping sequence', the Terminus passed in almost three seconds the whole length of Omicron Lost, entering in a never explored system, Omicron 54. The small green dwarf in the system attracted the attention of Frederich, which had a morbid passion for astronomy. When the officer group passed near a group of fresh recruits, Jack clearly heard a question in mid air, what would happen if the Terminus would stop at faster-than-light speed? Jack turned and faced the recruit that made the question, answering his question with a calm tone. The Terminus will most likely be destroyed, shaped into a box-like mass due to the high gravity that will be released upon a failed FTL-exit, that's why we need to decelerate before we stop.
After Jack's small physics explanation, the officer group took the elevator that connected the various and many decks of the Terminus. They were going towards the bar, for maybe the last drink in their life. But even if the mission was probably, and most likely suicidal, they agreed that a nice drink could fix their morale.
07 October 818 AS Currently onboard the CFS Terminus, hallway
0825 HOURS Sector Position: Omicron 54, Warping towards Omicron Minor.
Joe was walking towards the mess to talk to some marines and while he was enjoying the taste of his cigar he heard a huge bang.
Speaker : All personnel, this is not a drill. please stay calm and return to your activities.
Joe : What the hell was that?!
After Joe helped some recruits up back on their feet and told them to stay calm he hurried to a window to look out... He saw some beautiful stars and a lot of space dust passing The Terminus at great speeds. He rushed towards the engine room to see if there were wounded men and to help if it was needed...
Dave was delighted to see the massive jump drive working at full capacity. It was his dream to ever see a "Warp Drive" functioning like that "Amazing, we broke the laws of physics". After arriving on the Omicron 54 system, he finally understood the situation as he was watching deeply the beautiful panorama of the distant starscape. He then, with a deep regret thinking at many great events on his life, brought the pendant with the "A.F" initials, the initials of a long forgotten love, a small tear fell into the pendant as he put it into his right upper pocket from the suit. Trying to hide his suffer, he followed the rest of the officers.
On the way to the bar... something happened... some sort of explosion. Something happened..
Dave : Great, here it starts...
Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding. - Sovereign
07 October 818 AS Currently onboard the CFS Terminus..
0825 HOURS Sector Position: Omicron 54, Warping towards Omicron Minor.
The Terminus was still in the main warping sequence, when an unknown flash, followed by a high ammount of space dust, clouded Jack's view on the system, immediately the bridge became dark. A very intense dark matter storm invested the Terminus, currently at more than one hundred light years away from Toledo. Jack wasn't surprised about the storm, the Edge Nebula was renown for the dark matter storms.
The voice of the executive officer of the Terminus, Amanda Blake, echoed on the speakers of the Terminus, even if the situation was a bit hollow, her voice reassured the crew. The possibility that the Terminus failed the warping sequence rose up when the storm invested its hull, but nothing noteworthy happened.
07 October 818 AS Currently onboard the CFS Terminus..
0825 HOURS Sector Position: Omicron 54, Warping towards Omicron Minor.
Zaphenath Paneah woke with a start. 'Goodness... so much for sleeping through the trip'
He got off of his cot in one of the sleeping cells and thought he should probably go to the bridge and see what everything was going on about.
---------------------------
Also waking, but in a more harsh matter (Falling out of his bed), Jonny Drake rubbed his head.
'Think are certianly rough here'
Not thinking much about the sudden stop, he climbed back into his bed
'We're probably just arriving... this means we get to go on the expidition soon.
Jolly'
So after taking a break for about a year I've decided to get back in to Disco. So yeah.