"Senior Science Officer Newgate!", His assistant called him.
"Yes? How can I help", He answered.
"There are some unusual activities in the research pod 204 and 207!", Newgate turned towards the assistant and thought about something. Assistant didn't understand why did he stopped.
"What happened... exactly?", Newgate told after that pause.
"Well... pod 204 shows some kind of a mutation form and 207 shows that there is a symbiosis between a bacteria and alien artifact.", Assistant replied surprised.
"What?!", he got surprised.
"Why the hell that artifact connected with the bacteria?", he yelled.
"And what about the mutation in 204?", assistant asked.
"What else would you expect from radiation?", he answered sarcastic.
"Give me the artifact and I'll move to the Liberty", Newgate told his assistant.
"You will speak with Professor Hammers?", assistant scratched his head.
"Yes...", Newgate rises his head.
"But now go get that Artifact! i'm leaving in 20 minutes...", he walked away.
...53 minutes later in space.
Newgate was on board the Liberty Cruiser that headed to the Liberty. There was a green fog outside and the only thing that he could see was a sun outside of the front window.
"Sir, how do you feel?", Lieutenant asked. Newgate only showed his thumbs-up, because he was not into a flights; After the lieutenant saw his thumbs, he moved away. Newgate left the seat and walked closer to a window, because he saw a strange blue light outside.
"Captain!", he yelled. Captain left his tasty coffee cup on his table and walked closer to the window.
"Crew! Code- RED! We have nomad nearby! get to your stations now!", after that, crew was running around the ship. Every second the nomad ship flew closer and when it was really close they identified it... a Nomad Battleship! Captain tried to make a run, but without a success. Nomad destroyed it's engines and the ship stopped. There was a silence in the ship and complete power-cut. Light from the sun was the only light source.
Captain ordered them to be steady, but suddenly there were only shots and multiple hull breaches. It was impossible to save the ship...
Newgate checked the artifact in his pocket and he saw that it is glowing faster than ever before! He started to think... It worked as a beacon for nomads... soon they heard more shots and following by that there was a massive explosion. Everyone on the ship were killed and the only thing was left was debris.
Freelance Mercenary named James Corbin was on his way to find the location of the missing cruiser, that is somewhere lost in the space, for the Zoner Researcher Kurt Kramer. Why did he do that? Well, he is one of the best mercenaries/explorers in Omicron Delta. Was it worth to risk his life to fly in the dead space? Yes, he got the one of the best offers in a life! Money was not a Researcher Kramer's problem; he was one of the best zoner scientists and, of course, one of the well payed.
Corbin is the man who doesn't question his given assignment, he just does his job in exchange for the money. He just searched the possible locations of the missing ship and that's it.
"Our Cruiser is waiting near the exit of the system", Corbin got the message.
"Very well... I'm currently searching the 7th location", He told them.
"12 years ago a whole Libertonian explorer fleet was searching for that ship! They all failed and got lost into this cloud! So you'd be careful out there!", He informed Corbin.
"What happened to them?"
"Well... they lost their exit guard and the whole fleet got lost!", Kramer explained him.
"Well...", Corbin was stopped by the Kramer.
"Yes, they all searched for the ship, but didn't...", Kramer was stopped.
"I found it!", He informed them.
"At last! 3 years of information gather and year for finding it! What do you see?"
"I see a Cruiser that is sliced and a... boarding ship?", Corbin told.
"Boarding ship? Ok, we are sending OUR Boarding ship to you, just don't lose the link. lets hope that our research object is still there.", Kramer informed.
"It seems that this ship is still intact. I can connect with it... I*.. A* Ne*r...", Kramer lost the signal with Corbin.
"Do you hear me? I repeat... Do you hear me?", he tried to talk with him again, but the signal was lost.
He thought about landing on the boarding vessel to check it, because there was no warranty that the Zoner Boarders will get in time. Suddenly, he saw a blue light in space that flew closer to him. He realized that this is a bad omen and he started to fly around. That blue thing was a nomad fighter! He realized it when he started to shoot at him with a purple weapons. In the time his ship was lost and in a tense he lost a control of it and he was hit by and asteroid. He managed to wear his space suit and leave the ship before the nomad destroyed it. After that, nomad left that place and he managed to get in that boarding ship.
He started to search the vessel, nothing but some dead bodies on the ground. The only strange things that he encountered was flashing lights in his eyes. He checked some bodies on the ground and he saw that they didn't die from the lack of food or radiation, but he saw that most of them are killed by a gun-shoot. He took out his weapon after that... he checked the status of the ship... "Deactivated", that was what the ship board computer showed. This ship was the only way for him to get out of here but to do that, he had to search the ship, because that was not safe to leave this place while there is a criminal on board.
He searched the whole ship... Nothing, except one thing he saw a man that has committed a suicide, by shooting himself in a head. He took a closer look... he saw some strange purple thing besides the body. He took it and it started to glow again... ***Light***
***Death***
***Suffering*** He lost a connection with it... It seems that he saw what happened on the ship for a short moment! He knew that there is something wrong with this thing... Maybe those scientists wanted to find this? Soon, the vision appeared... ***Follow the path of the light*** Strange vision of the station appeared in his mind. And there was a lighted way in space to that place... and some weak sound? He was confused. He knew that there is something more about this artifact, so he followed this voice, reactivated this ship and left this place...
Kramer began to worry about the mercenary. His team managed to find the location of the missing cruiser, but they didn't find any other ships there... only the destroyed mercenary ship was there, however, no body inside in it. Kramer ordered the crew to find him at any cost! He though about two possibilities that happened... One, that he was killed during a run... Second, he found the artifact and now he is running with it. He told that he'll not stop until he finds what has happened.
Inside the boarding ship...
Corbin received more visions. Some of them showed what happened with the ship, some showed his "destiny." "What? Why?" those were the only questions that he asked himself. He saw flashes with stations, jumpgates, asteroids, nebulae... No sense at all. He turned around and he saw a huge light standing before him. it had no form- Just a giant light! It say'd... "Find us and follow! We are the ones that holds the truth! Light can light the darkness." "What? Explain!" He lost the connection with it and Visions disappeared. He though that everything is over and that he was asleep, but then he heard a noise... He took out his weapon and began to look around. But then he saw a blue thing standing before him. He was confused and was holding a gun towards him, but he didn't want to shoot. He took out his artifact and he saw that it emits a purple light, but now- it is not glowing. He begins to feel what he feels. ***Cold***
***Confidence***
***Power*** He knew that this thing is not afraid from him. He lowered his gun and that thing that was moving all the time moved closer. He comes closer and he feels that light showed up again... "Humans know nothing! You take our land! Now you pay! Now you suffer!"The thing stopped for a moment...
"Tell me what do you want from me!" He asked. "Thing what you hold belongs to us!"Corbin took out his artifact when the thing told him this. "Let me be one of you and you will understand! I will show you... In time."Corbin wanted to ask a question, but then he started to feel emotions... He could not resist. ***Happiness***
***Pleasure***
***Love*** He had a headache, but at the same time those feelings. He couldn't explain what has hppened...
"Ach!... Yes... Tell me what happened!" He lost a control of his body and the nomad "was inside him". He was sleeping on the floor, but he heard a voice... "Mindshare... I will tell you what to do, just listen to me. You from now one are not safe... we will get rid of this ship and take one that is flight capable. Do what I say and you will understand..." Few moments later, he suddenly work up and he saw that he is inside of some strange fighter. He didn't remember what happened, but he knew where "The Light" guided him... From now on he heard a "Sirens" song...
Corbin followed the instructions of the being and closed the destination every moment. There were no problems on the trip, but, however, he was flying a libertonian ship. It helped him sometimes, but sometimes it didn't... there were some pirates one the way that wanted to destroy him, but they were no match for the pirates... that's right, they. Nomad and the Pilot acted like one! That was a symbioses between them, but more like they shared their thoughts and memories. Even there was a bunch of ships attacking, they took them out easily...
Later, James got closer to his destination what a thing was talking about. Every second the song got clearer and the light, that guided the way, was brighter and, when the picture was clearer, he saw some strange ancient thing... It looked like a jump gate. The strange voice in it's head told him to fly through and he did what the voice say'd. When approached the object, the song he heard got more clearer and more beautiful, but suddenly when he jumped through, he lost a vision and the song... it was strange, it was like he's free, but he didn't realize that he's mind is going "deeper" into that thing. He started to think what to do. He looked around and he saw a strange form asteroid in the horizon, that was glowing weakly. He decided to inspect it, so he headed there.
When he was really close to that thing he saw that this things is a Station and that glowing was some strange lights and it matched his vissions. Now he inspected this place he flew closer to the station, but then his ship was disabled by some Ionic wave or EMP blast, but he didn't know what happened exactly. He only saw some strange purple lightning coming to his way... unfortunately he lost his cautiousness after that.
Thirty minutes later he woke up on a floor...
Someone in black clothes waked closer and helped him to get up. He found himself on a station. He looked around and returned to the person that helped him to wake up.
"Who are you... and what is this place?" he asked.
"This place is that what you have been looking for... My name's Nigel, I'm the one that's praying here for the longest time" the man told.
"Can you explain me?.." James was interrupted
"You will understand soon..." He looked into his eyes saying.
"I... I have this..." He showed Nigel the thing, "This guided me the way."
"I see... hold it with your self. This thing belongs to the makers... you are blessed to return this to them..." Nigel explained.
"There was a blue thing..." He was interrupted again.
"No... it was this thing that showed you the creator. It showed you the way here... the way so you can return it." Nigel tried to tell that this thing was a source to his visions and that he was chosen to return this thing to it's owners.
"But... I felt this thing, like it was inside of me."
"You will understand it soon, now come, I will show you what's this place" Nigel told and they both walked somewhere.