Futuristic Lights Out

[Lyro]

Midallin stood up from her leaning position and walked into the luminescent room. As Vaults went, this seemed to be one of the better ones. Every surface as far as she could tell was immaculately clean, which is how it should be - if this crew was as meticulous in following international guidelines as Levi hinted at, none of them would enter this room during missions. She nodded approvingly.

"You people know how to gain a Curator's respect." Moving over to stand by a console, she performed a quick data integrity check to ensure that all was as it should be. Not that it mattered much. The crucial parts of her intel had already been shipped out in another Library; what data there was on here had mostly been gathered from public sources in a haste. Still undeniably useful data (otherwise there was no way to justify the expense of this voyage), but neither was it important enough to justify full-on encryption, which might have attracted unwanted attention. Only a few parts had been locked away with a key only she possessed.

The check passed successfully. All was as it should be. "Good to see there were no transfer errors. There was one mission where we had to turn back as a result of what they claimed to be a software error." She scoffed at the memory. She had felt genuinely angry at the time, considering the stress she had been under, but it had all worked out in the end. She closed the terminal and moved to stand back in the entrance to the Vault.

"As appreciable as your Vault is, it doesn't make for the best of waiting rooms." Maybe she was being too analytical about this man. Try as she might to interpret his words and demeanour, she found little to work with. "Any idea how long these drills usually last?"

 

[C.DEX]

"They generally last as long as they take to complete." The Chaplain said, with a slight smirk. "Really, it shouldn't be much longer. There isn't much you have to do down here, to be completely honest. But you'll be reassured that during the drills, the Captain and everyone else attends to the duties of their own assignments just as well; you're not alone in having to do what I'm sure is very trivial tasks, at this point."

The Chaplain pointed to a button on the wall inside of the vault, still fastidious to keeping his body away from breaching the vault line, almost as if it would hurt him to do so. "You can press that there and you'll have a place to sit. No conventional furniture in there, I'm afraid; have to keep the Vault as sterile as possible." he said, with a slight nod.

"Out of curiosity rather than true need, are we permitted to have our weapons out during this sequence?" Audi asked, making no particular move to acquire his. After all, the situation hadn't been threatening, but it was a curious question nonetheless.

"You technically are, yes. But as you've concluded on your own: it isn't necessary. I tend to go unarmed during them; while I'm permitted to carry a weapon, as well - as you all are, during red alert - I find that it's an addendum that only serves to make the Curators nervous. Suther carries his during red alert, however, and Sinna has access to hers as well, though she has better things to worry about happen something -"

The ship jolted a slight, almost unnoticeable amount. Not unusual for hyperspace.

"- occur, being the Starseer aboard." he said. His hand reached up, finger pressing into a device in his ear. "Captain, Sinna, Curator Lysier and Audi are situated. How goes the preparations above?"

 

[Lyro]

The sinking feeling had taken some time to set in. The drill had started out normally, and Sinna had set about to do her assigned tasks. She hadn't felt any particular sense of urgency, despite Suther's zealous enthusiasm for the task, but it was practically a ritual by now, and traditions were important. The ship had been making good progress too - the weather forecasts had predicted a nasty distortion storm along the pre-planned itinerary, but it looked like they had managed to skirt right along its edges, avoiding the worst of it. If their luck held up, they might even arrive a few days early as a result.

Then there had been a slight lurch. Not unusual in and of itself - even the best ships sometimes had occasional bumps along the road. It could mean anything, from slight engine trouble to a crease in hyperspace. Sinna had been resting her eyes (and nothing more, no matter what Suther kept trying to insinuate about her age) when it had happened. She had felt it but had not thought much of it at the time until a reading on a nearby screen began to blink. Was this a new twist on the drill? The Captain had been known to do so before - simulate various accidents through her instruments to keep her on her toes, as if she could still be surprised by his tricks by now (the one with the stowaway rodents had caught her off-guard, admittedly). But by the time she had moved to take a closer look at the warning, it had vanished.

"Someone needs to brush up on their programming," she muttered to herself. In all likelihood, the automated systems had already caught Suther's latest trick and dealt with it. Just to be sure, she double-checked all her other readings, but everything seemed to be nominal. They were still making good speed - exceptional speed, actually, as the winds were now blowing in their favor - and now Levi was informing her their passengers had been taken to the Vault in good time. She might as well radio in right now and call it a night - she was tired and, presumably, so was at least one of their passengers.

And yet... something about that jolt had seemed familiar. Sinna racked her mind trying to think of why. Bumps and lurches happened all the time in hypertransit. But the weather had been clear as could be, and the engine had been re-tuned not two weeks ago. There had been no explosions, they weren't transporting any live cargo, and their passengers had been quiet.

There was of course one other possibility. The one which all hypertravellers dreaded. But the instruments told her they were still in hyperspace. Pulling up another screen, she accessed several of the camera feeds, only to be met with the characteristic haze of hyperspace zooming around them. That was expected, completely expected.

And yet... and yet...

The ship had exactly one physical window into the surrounding void for security reasons. All the others were elaborate fakes, ultra-thin screens applied as wallpaper to provide an illusion of fenestration. The only actual window was located in the cargo hold, with the thickest glass money could buy. It was a long way down, but... "Everything going smoothly here," she spoke into her arm in reply to Levi as she made her way to her elevator. "Just checking something out."

Switching channels to her private one with Suther, she tried to sound as nonchalant as she could, despite the now well-defined sinking feeling in her stomach. "Sorry to interrupt you, but... something has come up. Join me in the hold."

 

[C.DEX]

Suther sat in his seat, a complacent smirk having taken up on his face from beforehand. He watched the cameras almost with a fascination, eyes glued to the screens in front of him. He'd seen Sinna stand, leave her position - spry as ever, he'd say - and go down to the cargo hold. Now, he was curious. The CCTVs showed the smallest pinprick of space through the thickened glass window, the angle on the cameras not giving him the best look in particular, especially with how thick the surrounding material had been. But something seemed off. Perhaps it was in Sinna's body language. Perhaps it was in the stillness of the small view that he did get, and perhaps it was concreted by the small lilt of panic he'd come to not recognize in Sinna's voice.

Suther stood. He wasn't exactly in a way to be handling any sort of situation, dressed in a simple gray t-shirt and black sweat pants. There was nothing really to indicate that they should panic, but still, a distinct feeling a dread had settled in his chest. He practically skipped to the elevator, the beam taking him a great deal slower toward the bottom than he had the patience for. A nervous hand tapped against the side of his leg, and then he had a stray thought.

The Captain's hand slammed against the recall button at the bottom, sending him on another drearily long pursuit back to the bridge. As soon as the elevator had stopped and he'd been allowed out again, he broke from it, hand splaying out on the security locker next to the Captain's chair. Gun. Holster. Damnit. Was he overthinking this? Jolting back down toward the elevator again, he thrust himself inside and began his descent. Soon, he had found himself in the cargo bay, taking place next to Sinna.

"Oh ... shit." Suther said, approaching the window.

The translucent shielding of a hyperspace net pressed against the window - and thus, their entire ship - wasn't the only concern. While that itself caused Suther to instinctively draw his gun, what they had seen just past the thin veil was something a lot greater. With his other hand, he drew his wrist up, prodding at it.

"Location tells me we're in Dericron-AX-700. That... that should be Axus 5. A terrestrial planet." Suther said, his words causing their stomachs to sink even further.

In front of them, a desolate remainder of a planet remained. Scores of black and white clouds swirled in the atmosphere, tumultously changing by the minute. The planet had been plunged into chaos, seeming to reverberate with black, white, and even red destruction. Then, Suther flinched, as debris rocketed so close to the ship that it had given them both a quick version of their own lives flashing before their eyes. Suddenly, the calm Suther no longer remained. They were in an inorganic minefield, the very remnants of whatever civilization had been there before flying deathly close to the hull of their ship.

"Get back to your station, Sinna. Levi and I are going to gear up to cut the net projectors outside. Wind down the hyperspace drive and get ready to spring us back to hyperspace in the opposite direction." He said, walking briskly toward the elevator.

"Attention - this is your Captain speaking. Lock and authenticate the vault. This is not a drill. All Combatants may arm themselves at this point and latent security personnel may be seen with their weapons drawn until the threat has been dispersed. We are averting course back to the host planet. I repeat - this is not a drill."

 

[Lyro]

Beenma awoke with a jolt, stopping just short of hitting his head against the confines of his narrow quarters. He had dozed off a few hours ago, when what faint signals he could snatch from the ship's communications system had indicated night time was beginning. While his original form could have happily remained awake much longer, maintaining a human appearance meant adhering to the rules of a human metabolism, with all of its ups-and-downs. It was much simpler when travelling through areas with a smaller human presence, where more exotic body types drew less attention; as luck would have it, however, his latest escapades had taken him very close to humanity's cradle. Anything non-human would be sure to turn eyes.

As such, when he woke up it was in a distinctly human way - groggy, blurry-eyed and confused by the pain in his right arm. It took him a few seconds to connect the stinging sensation with the implants he had embedded in his skin earlier. Specifically, the ones coded to send out pain signals whenever his proximity sensors detected movement. Someone was close by, in the cargo hold. Who? Why? He had to know; maybe they were on to him, maybe not, it didn't matter. The last time he had tried to just hold his breath hadn't worked out too well. Gently, ever so slightly, he lifted up the panelling above him and tried to catch a glimpse of the intruder.

It was the woman. The old one. Why was she down here? She was looking at something, but from his point of view Beenma couldn't see much. Some precious secret heirloom from an old lover? A map to hidden hyperspatial treasure? He had met a widower once who, after many attempts at seducing her, had finally--

Someone else was coming. The captain - Beenma recognized him immediately. He looked worried as he walked in front of him. Just as gently as Beenma had opened his hiding place before, he lowered the panel above him to a fraction of its previous height - just enough to hear their conversation.

"Get back to your station, Sinna. Levi and I are going to gear up to cut the net projectors outside. Wind down the hyperspace drive and get ready to spring us back to hyperspace in the opposite direction."

Woah, woah, woah! Oh no, this wouldn't do at all. He couldn't go back now. The whole point was to get out. He had been planning this for weeks - it might be months before such a golden opportunity presented itself once more. He had to do something, and he had to do it soon.


This wouldn't do at all. No, not at all.

Midallin had tensed mid-way through the captain's announcement. Something unexpected had happened that had spooked the captain, that much was obvious, but what? It couldn't be that imminent - she knew enough about hypertransit to know reversing directions and plotting a return trip was no trivial matter. It would be at least an hour before they could make the u-turn, if this ship was anything like the other Libraries she had been on. There was still time to change the captain's mind.

She moved closer to Levi with a look of genuine concern on her face. "What's going on? Why are we turning back?"

 

[C.DEX]

"Captain?" Levi asked, triggering his own channel. He stepped away from Midallin and Audi, eyes betraying his own confusion. For a while - which had only been seconds, but certainly felt like a while - they sat in relative silence while the tension built and they waited for Suther's further word. Then, the ship jolted hard, indicative of the urgency at hand.

"Levi, I need you to go ahead and come toward the bay. Get suited up as soon as possible. Make sure they lock the vault before you come up." Suther said.

"Have we been ..." Levi started, hesitant to cause any stir in front of Midallin and Audi. Before he could finish his sentence, Suther responded, knowing well the urgency of the situation.

"We've been taken out of hyperspace. Intentionally. We need to take out the net projectors and then Sinna is going to route us back to the host planet. Normally ... we wouldn't go back for such a thing, but -" the ship rocked again, hard. So hard that the Chaplain had a decently hard time keeping standing, bracing himself against the wall. "- I ... I don't know if - I think the planet was seiged. I don't see anything but metal and fire and destruction. There aren't any signals coming in - I don't think I've seen anything like this before, Levi. Hurry."

Levi looked to Midallin and Audi. He had to tell them. It wasn't as if he could conceal it, or as if he'd even wanted to.

"We've been taken out of hyperspace. There may be a war going on on-planet, but ... we'd have to run scanners. I don't believe we're going to be staying long enough to do so. I need to report to the bay to cut the net, but I need to see that you're locked and authenticated in the Vault before that happens." Levi said. There was little in the way of any emotion other than a twinge of determination in his brow. "Is your Combatant going to be taking place outside or inside of the Vault?" Levi asked.

Audi looked to Midallin, finally breaking the silence between them.

Can we afford to go back?

 

[Lyro]

We cannot.

The man's explanation made little sense. They had been netted, fair enough; all spacefarers had heard the stories, even if some lent them little credence. But why would a war on a planet tens of thousands of kilometers away from them be of concern? It had clearly shaken Levi, who had not struck Midallin as a particularly impressionable type so far. As such, leaving as soon as possible seemed eminently sensible - there would just be a slight disagreement over the new destination.

"The ship's Vault seems solid enough to protect me," she answered him, affecting a flimsy false mask of courage while her mind raced ahead in anticipation of her next moves. "Audi will be of greater use out here, should..." Her expression became vague, unsure as she was of the exact nature of the threat they were facing. "... should whoever might still be out there decide to board. And if they do... Well, I would rather have Audi ready and waiting for them out there than in here with me doing nothing. Especially... especially since Sinna will be on her own while you are outside." Was the Captain exiting along with the Chaplain? That would be even better.

I think a visit to our Caster is in order. But don't... do anything yet. We might still be able to convince them to change their plans. Hopefully without having to leave two of them behind.

Midallin retreated to the inside of the Vault, letting her fingers fly across the various terminals. "I will lock up the most valuable parts of the payload as a precaution." Pulling up maps of nearby systems. I'm going to search for a better destination. "If it is indeed a war, I doubt this will interest them, but we might as well not take any risks." Bug her computer if you can. If we can take control peacefully, all the better.

She glanced back at Levi, allowing a worried look to cross her face momentarily. Her mouth opened a fraction, as if she meant to say something, before it closed and she resumed busying herself with the machines around her.

 

[C.DEX]

Audi nodded, looking from Midallin to the Chaplain, who had turned abruptly in order to make his way down to the bay after seeing that Midallin had turned her attention from him to her console. He hadn't seen the damage himself yet, but by the tone of the Captain's voice and how hard the ship had shook, he didn't know what to expect.

"Do you wish for me to join you outside?" Audi asked, his pace matching Levi's as well as his route. They had been going in the general direction of the cockpit, with the bay having rested nearby. With the design of the ship, however, most everything hadn't been a long walk away from each other.

"No. Curator Lysier is correct. You should be on guard in the case that we're boarded. Are you armed?" Levi asked, looking to Audi momentarily. There was no measure of emotion or intent in his motions, stopping abruptly when Levi had and continuing pace when he'd continued. "I can't say where would be the best area for you to post, but anywhere along the outer edge of the ship would be wise. We should have the bay area covered, though."

"I am armed." Audi said. Secondly … weapons stay in the vault or the bridge when they're not in use., he remembered. When his answer hadn't gotten so much as a flinch from the Chaplain, he'd continued on. They'd arrived to the bay in haste, with Levi running toward the EVA suit chambers. Suther had arrived shortly after him, eyes falling on Audi only for a moment before he'd joined Levi.

"It's bad out there." Suther said. "We got taken out by a net. Planet looks like it's in ... you'll see it when we get out there, but I'm not sure anyone can be alive down there. God knows I want to be wrong and just be looking at things wrong though the cargo window - it is small - but we'll see in a moment. War or not, I've never seen anything like this." he repeated, betraying just how nervous he'd been about the whole thing.

"Do you think the Tyndori-Sigma Conglomerate will care?" Levi asked.

"I think the whole god damn universe should care if what I saw out there was right." Suther said, triggering the EVA Chambers to release their suits with a smack of a button. It began to hiss, ultraviolet light leaking from the sealed storage and bathing them. During their preparation, Audi had slipped away, knowing well that the crew wouldn't possibly turn their eyes to the inside during a situation like this.

The Captain is talking about the planet being destroyed. My data banks don't reveal any historical weapons capable of doing so; that's why he wishes to turn back. I'm going to the cockpit now to plug in.

The Combatant left them to their own devices, routing himself back to the cockpit. But he wasn't the only one.

 

[Lyro]

Leaving the exoskeleton behind had been a mistake. Every harried breath Sinna took as she hurried back to the cockpit reminded her of this. It was the humans' fault, really, and their unwillingness to compromise for a lower gravity setting. Had she been given only 1g, she would have been in her element, floating over to her destination with ease. As it were, she was huffing and hobbling along as fast as she could, moving from transport beam to transport beam as she made her way back to the top of the ship.

What they had seen (or, rather, what they hadn't seen) hadn't rattled Sinna nearly as much the Captain. Her entire life had been spent in space, as had her parent's lives and their parents before them. Planets held no special significance for her; as far as she was concerned, they were nothing more than extraneous attachments to their orbital ports. Certainly the destruction of one was worrying, but it was a vague and distant concern which had little immediate impact on her. Habitat accidents happened all the time among her kind - you learned to accept them, or you lived in perpetual fear of the next catastrophe. A planet was just another habitat, albeit a particularly large one.

Her heavy prevented her from hearing the Combatant's heavy footsteps until she turned a corner and ended up directly in front of him. She stepped back, startled, and stared.

"What..." she wheezed, before coughing and breathing heavily for a few seconds. "What in light's end are you doing here? You should... should be with your, our, Curator."

I have established a link between the Vault's terminals and the ship's internal systems, came Midallin's voice to Audi, re-transmitted by the ship's internal comms. I just need you to grant me access to flight controls from within the cockpit. Try to get to her to let you in, I think it might be locked.

Before Audi could formulate a reply however, Sinna waved her hand irritably and resumed her walk. "Never mind, doesn't matter. We're going out of here. Just don't get in my way." Her control room wasn't far away now - only one more transport beam.

Then the lights went out, along with the ship's gravity.


"Wrong button," muttered Beenma as he pressed another button to its left. A brief klaxon rang out as throughout the ship massive steel doors slid shut, dividing the ship up into air-tight compartments - including the service hatch he had used to gain entry to this room. The map of the ship on the screen in front of him updated, highlighting every closed-off area. He smiled to himself and rubbed his hands together in excitement as he swiveled his chair - Sinna's chair - to look at the map of the galaxy he had pulled up before him.

"Alright, then. Where to now, Captain Beenma Magra?"

 

[C.DEX]

As the gravity went out, and Sinna and Audi had begun to float, the frontal visor of the Combatant's mask lit up. He was one of few on the ship who had dressed for the occasion at all times; not entirely uncommon for a Combatant, but a little strange in himself. He looked toward Sinna, registering the brief surprise in her eyes as a telltale sign that she wasn't involved in what was going on. With the gravity off, Audi kicked against the floor, floating toward the transport beam. He briefly looked back to the old woman, proffering a hand before he'd flown too far from her. On the chance that she'd simply locked the cockpit when she had left, there wasn't much harm in helping her to it. After all, as amicable as he could be ... he would be.

"Under what conditions will the ship fail to keep its lights on and power down the gravity generator? Is the engine compromised?" Audi asked, the urgency of the situation not exactly escaping him. Together, they pulled toward the cockpit under the headache-inducing lamplight of Audi's helmet, only to find that the door separating the hall from the cockpit having been engaged. And locked, indicated by a dull red LED. "Can you open this?" he asked, keeping himself rooted to the door by having grabbed the frame. His hand tapped idly, patience for the niceties of the situation wearing thin.

It is locked. Standby. And let me know when you want to take things a little quicker. The integrity of the ship is being compromised; gravity has disengaged in this location as well as lights.

...

"We're on the outside, Sinna. Let me know if you copy -" Suther said. His eyes fell on the radiation shutters, which had begun to disengage now that the ship had 'realized' they were out of hyperspace. Slowly, they opened. But something was curious. Even in the dark depth of space, he could usually point out the Bard and all of its parts. Something was different. The lights were out, not making the cockpit known. "Hey, Sin. Is everything alright on-board? I'm -"

Like a delayed message, the ship had sent the alarm to his wrist computer. It blared underneath his EVA suit, frustrating him when he realized he both couldn't turn it off or see what the alarm had been about.

"We'll be in momentarily. I see the net generators." Suther said. He'd taken a disc off the side of his EVA suit, setting the magnetic piece neatly on the outside of the hatch in which he and Levi had left from. Levi had done the same, depressing a button in the middle. Tethers of light began emanating from the discs, rooting both the Captain and the Chaplain to the ship, would anything go awry. "I don't expect to get shot off into space, but with the kind of minefield we're in... doesn't hurt to take precautions." he said.

"I'll place the charges on the upper generator, you the lower?" Levi asked. "I'd suggest we stick together, but..." through his helmet, he looked out toward the planet, which had been sent into absolute, atmospheric chaos, the sort he'd never quite seen before. "Time is of the essence."

 

[Lyro]

You don't say.

Better to make light of the situation anyway, Midallin thought to herself as she struggled to maintain her grip on the desk in front of her. At least the Vault hadn't lost its lighting; it must have run on a separate circuit, possibly even on an entirely different reactor core. It was, after all, the most valuable part of the ship. Unfortunately, its value did not seem to extend to providing it with its own agrav system.

See if she has a key or an override of some sort. I do not have access to the ship's doors from here. And if she doesn't, it's just a door. I'm sure you can... hold on.

She had managed to pull up the ship's manual on the terminal in front of her. While some sections were classified, most of it was available for perusal. A quick search for the keyword "gravity" had revealed that, barring a catastrophic failure to the anti-matter drive which powered the field, there was only one place in the entire ship where such a change could be enacted: the cockpit.

Of course, she wasn't ready to rule out the first option. If, indeed, there had been some kind of... well, it had to have been an attack, didn't it? No natural phenomenon could have spontaneously done this; neither could any known weaponry either but that did not bear thinking about right now. So, yes, certainly, they could have been under attack by a foe that was capable of destroying planets. But then, why would they still be alive? Surely such a powerful enemy could dispatch them with ease, or at the very least not waste time toying with their ship's gravity field.

Therefore, assuming that they were not in the process of being boarded, the only logical conclusion was that somebody was in the cockpit right now. It couldn't have been any of the crew, they were all accounted for. Admittedly it could have been a servitor robot; the threat of rogue AI was ever-present, after all, but Sinna had not seemed like the type who enjoyed the company of robots. No, there remained only one possibility.

They had a stowaway.

Change of plans. Keep trying to get that door open. But... carefully. Even if it takes longer.

Midallin pushed herself off a wall and towards the room's communicator. A direct line, straight to the pilot or the captain. She flicked the switch and leaned in.

"Going somewhere, are we?"

Beenma froze in his reading and slowly swiveled around to where the voice had come from. Discovered. He had been discovered. How? The button. That was it. A button had fallen off his coat during his climb; awful raggedy thing it was. They must have found it, passed it through a genetic sampler and initiated a ship-wide search for his DNA. He had underestimated these Librarians. But what to do now? He could just keep silent, ignore whatever the voice said. It had no power over him or its owner would have already stopped him. He had the advantage. He went back to his maps...

Then spun right back and picked up the transmitter. Just a bit of gloating couldn't hurt. After all, he only needed to stay here long enough for him to lock in the coordinates and prevent any further access to the navigation console. Might as well chat as he did so.

"Yes, change of plans, I'm afraid," he pronounced glibly in the smooth, practiced tone of a conman. He should have grown some facial hair, this was the perfect occasion for some classic, old-fashioned mustache-twirling. "Can't say I'm too keen on visiting the ol' Conglomerate so soon, you see. Lovely place, don't get me wrong, just a bit too hot this time of year. I'm after cooler climes." He slid a finger across the screen in front of him and tapped a star at random. "How about... let's see here... oh, Traitor's End. That sounds welcoming, doesn't it? Or even - I like the sound of this one - the Desolation of Junythea. It's such a great, big, wonderful universe, don't you think?"

The universe would be better off without such a disgustingly oily voice in it, but Midallin gritted her teeth and latched on to what he had just said. He didn't have a destination in mind yet, and he was on the run. This could work. It would be made to work. "Lovely places, I'm sure," she said sweetly, "but, if I may suggest--"

"No, madam, you may not!" Beenma cut in forcefully. "The ship is in lockdown. I am the only one in control. The ship's logs tell me the Captain and our dear Chaplain decided to pop out just a few seconds ago. As for you, you don't sound like an old crone, nor do you sound like any Combatant I've ever come across. Pleased to meet you Curator." He was enjoying this; for once, he actually, legitimately had the upper hand. It felt nice. A different kind of exhilarating. "Clever of you to track me down so quickly, but now what? Oh, I'm sure your bodyguard is already hard at work trying to find a way in here, but it would be a sorry ship indeed if a lockdown were so easily bypassed. I'd say I have at least ten minutes before he can break through, don't you think? And that's me being conservative. Plenty of time for me to program in a new destination, encrypt the whole damn system right down to the navigation controls and scurry away to a new hidey hole somewhere on this ship."

If he were truthful, the prospect of spending the rest of the journey staying one step ahead of their scans was of some concern, but it was a big ship. The two who were outside were already going to get left behind, once they had dealt with that net. And as for the rest... like he'd said. It was a big ship. Things broke sometimes. Accidents happened. He would make it out.

"Hmm." A talker. That was good. She liked talkers. "Well, then. Guess there's no point in trying to buy you out. Shame."

Beenma paused. He should say no. The ploy was obvious, painfully transparent even. Still.

"... how much?" he said, finally.

Good news, Audi. We're going home.

 

[C.DEX]

Audi looked to Sinna, who had been wildly attempting to gain access back to the cockpit while everything had been going down. With Beenma's messages routed conveniently back to Audi's mind just as Midallin's link had been, he debated the merits of forcing open the door. But Midallin wouldn't want that. Not if a deal had been carved. Still, watching the old woman fumble with attempting to get it open was frustrating at best. She had only gotten to trying to pry the panel off with a screwdriver, and it was taking incredibly long.

The Combatant reached forward, grabbing the panel with a fist and closing down on it, then ripped it forward. Not enough to detach the wires, of course, he had control, but certainly enough to delay any sort of real functioning and startle the Starseer that had been working so keenly on it herself. It was a gesture not heard on the other side, thankfully, with how thick the walls and door had been. He didn't stop there, grabbing the opened section of the wall and ripping it toward him, opening up the wall for Sinna to further tinker.

"Does that help?" he asked, intentionally keeping the secret of their stowaway away from the Caster. There was no need to panic her now, and it wasn't really as if she could no any harm even when she did discover it. He also doubted it would make her move faster. He wondered if she even could move faster.

We'll be in soon. Are you legitimately cutting a deal with the invader? Because I'm certain that a little intimidation would result in a decryption key ... rather quickly.

"I wouldn't resort to that if it weren't necessary, but ... Your Captain and Chaplain are outside, and it sounds like we may be in a relatively dangerous situation. I would hate for any harm to come to the Curator and this ship because we weren't quick." he said.

Then, the door opened.

Instructions?

...

Levi and Suther took back toward the ship, having placed their charges neatly on the field generators. They knew well to stay away, and far away, covering themselves by means of ducking around one of the ship's many folds. Explosions in space ... weren't quite as theatric as in-atmosphere, but they were certainly deadlier. All it would take is one piece of debris to send them off into deep space, with probably no real way of getting back. Of course, that's what the tethers had been for, but technology failed all the time. Not to mention, venturing outside of the ship outside of routine pitstops hadn't been a thing they had done often; their suits weren't equipped to deal with heavy fire or debris.

Blissfully unaware of the danger happening inside of the ship, they waited for it, the beeps of the countdown sounding across their radios. Of course, that was just by signal; sound didn't transfer across the vacuum of space. With a single, anticlimactic bright flash, the net generators had exploded. Debris hit the guarded exterior of the ship, but it had been nothing compared to the destruction of the planet itself ... and the resulting scenario they had found themselves in. The ship had been spurred only slightly by the impact, signalling their release from the net.

"Looks good. We're moving." Suther said. "Lets get back inside. I haven't heard from the others. Think a system might have failed." he said. "Telecomms, maybe."

"Hopefully it isn't too dire." Levi said, pulling himself across the outside surface of the ship to the hatch they had left from. There was no immediate cause for alarm, of course; it had been closed, but it was an airlock. When he'd hit the button once, twice ... maybe an electrical failure? There were independent power sources attached to the airlocks for this occasion specifically. Only ... the indicator to the side had stated that the main power was on. He flipped the switch, switching to backup power. Maybe an error.

Then, nothing.

"...I... think we may be locked out." Levi said.

"What?!" Suther exclaimed. "Go to the cargo bay. Take your tether. Be careful. I'll go toward the cockpit airlock. There isn't really any fucking time to waste here." he hissed, soon roaring into the telecomms once again. "Sinna! Do you read me? The exterior airlock has been sealed. What's going on?"

 

[Lyro]

Then, the door opened.

A deal has been struck.

Sinna had looked at Audi with an expression of shock and mild outrage as he had torn the wall open, but the need for an appropriate response was forgotten when the door opened seemingly of its own accord. She immediately rushed into the room as fast as she could by pushing against the walls, expertly navigating the interior of the cockpit without the need or a desire for gravity. Within seconds she had reached her control screens, only to stare in consternation at what was displayed on the central navigation console.

Re-calibrating for new destination: Axell IV [[ 0.4% ]]​

"What in the name of..." muttered the Caster to herself, as she glided into her chair, strapped her restraints in and began opening various windows. Immediately she spotted the glowing red icon indicating that the ship's short-range telecomms were de-activated, and hurriedly toggled it back on.

"--read me? The exterior airlock has been sealed. What's going on?"

"I'm re-opening it now," she said, leaning into the ship's microphone as she inputted the commands to take the ship out of lockdown. Around the ship, sealed compartments began to unseal, and the various airlocks-reopened. "Something happened here. Not sure what yet. Someone locked in a new destination. I can cancel it, of course, but it looks like some of the net pirates have managed to hack into our systems. There may be one aboard right--" She stopped and stared at the error message in front of her: Insufficient privileges. Please enter password to confirm cancellation: ________________ "Wh--" She tried inputting her own account's password, only to be met with the same error message. On the screen to her right, the calibration process continued uninterrupted:

Re-calibrating for new destination: Axell IV [[ 0.6% ]]​

"Suther," she said intently, trying very hard not to panic. "Both of you need to get back here. Right now." She pulled up the encyclopedic entry on the Axell system as she talked. "We're heading to some system called Axell. That's... Ai'Virronic territory. I can't cancel it, and it's re-calibrating right now. Hurry." As calibration continued its progress, the ship began to turn, slowly but surely, re-orienting itself to point towards its new destination.


Back in the Vault, Midallin had seated herself in front of one of the room's desks, and now lay demurely awaiting further developments. The negotiation had been brief, forceful, yet ultimately productive. She had been offering a substantial monetary reward, after all. That and hints that any past regional criminal records could always be adjusted had apparently been enough to convince their stowaway to plot a course for her home planet. Continuing on to their original destination had been out of the question now - their arrival was sure to cause a commotion, if they had indeed sighted a war, or whatever it was the Captain had actually seen. Heading back to Axell was better, in the end - they would certainly want to hear of any war developments out here, and it had been far too long since her last visit anyway.

It goes without saying that we do not speak to the Crew of what just transpired. As far as they know, we are just as much in the dark as they are.

And as for the mysterious stowaway she knew nothing of except for an untraceable bank account number, there would be time enough to find where he had slithered off to. Hopefully before the Crew found him.

 

[C.DEX]

"Making our way back in." Suther said, with he and Levi trying once again the airlock that had been locked before. The light on the panel flashed for a moment before going green, and Suther let out a sigh of relief from inside of his suit. He opened it, detaching his tether, and allowed way for Levi to come back in. Levi did just that and Suther followed suit, and they had finally made it safely into the ship. "I don't like the feeling of this, Levi." he said, unsure, waiting patiently as the airlock closed behind them and they were re-pressurized; cycled back in.

As soon as they had been re-pressurized, Levi and Suther stepped out of the airlock, Suther peeling off his suit with relative violence. It dropped to the floor with no regard for how expensive the equipment had been, with the Captain beginning a stride to get to the cockpit. Before he could tear off, Levi had spoken up.

"Captain. Your gun." Levi said. "Sinna has said that there could be a pirate aboard."

"Right." Suther breathed, frustrated. He unclipped his weapon from his side, flicking off the safety. "We need to search it up and down. Apparently we're going to have time. Ai'Virronic ... Ai'Virron ..." he repeated as if a mantra. "That's - ... I can't think of why." he muttered.

"We should act as if someone is waiting for us." Levi replied. "The ship is being controlled, and of course we'd been caught in a net, but ... nothing around this place seemed alive. I cannot foresee someone surviving long enough in the field outside to wait for a ship to happen to be caught in the precise location. Nothing on our scanners. Unless technology is aging ahead of me -"

"We still have some time before we get there." Suther replied. "During that time we conduct a sweep. Get Miss Midallin's Combatant. They already should be aware something's wrong - probably gonna have to take a deduction if we survive this - so we might as well utilize all of our resources." he said.

"You're right." Levi replied. "I'll make my way there in-person, happen we do have an intruder that is watching."

"I don't believe it's a coincidence we are being rerouted after witnessing ... what has happened down on that planet. It's above a tech-level I have seen before, and it's not out of the realm of possibility that someone who can do that can do this to us without even boarding. Still, we'll search." Suther said, frowning. Then, he spoke out on his telecomms. "Sinna, I'm going to the engine. We aren't gonna be jumping into a trap. Turn this ship around and fly away from the planet. We get enough distance and we'll be out of danger of getting hit by debris ... mostly. Until we can figure this out."

...

Audi stepped into the room with Sinna, idly making his way down the hatch. "You said there could be an intruder. I am going to assist on the search." he said, briefly. Then, aloud, he spoke to Midallin, pretending as if their contact hadn't existed at all.

"The crew is expressing concern over an intruder. Lock down the Vault and call for assistance if needed."

 

[Lyro]

"An intruder? Dear me..." Midallin replied, unsure if she was being listened to now that the lockdown was no longer in effect. "I will remain here, then. Stay safe, Audi." And if you do find him, make sure he survives - I believe he pulled more than one trick when he locked in our destination.

Re-calibrating for new destination: Axell IV [[ 1.5% ]]​

Sinna nodded distractedly at Audi as she began hammering away at her keyboard. The intruder couldn't have had the time to make that many changes to her system, and they would have been rushed even then. Surely she would find a slip-up - a weak encryption key, a backdoor that had not been plugged, anything. But it quickly became apparent that she was fighting a losing battle.

She sighed in frustration as she opened up a line with Suther once more. "There's a low-level AI parasite in the system. It's entrenched deep by now. I don't know what else it's changing, but the navigation system is already entirely locked up." Parasites were one of the most detestable cyber-innovations of the past couple of centuries. Smart enough to adapt to any host system, yet dumb enough to fit on portable storage. A quick diagnostic revealed the ship's own AI agents had identified it in time to stop it from spreading to some of the more crucial subsystems, such as life support; even now they were fighting the parasite's latest attempts to break down the defenses. She had faith the ship would continue to win the battle for now, as they had paid for the very best in security software, yet even the very best hadn't been enough to stop the initial infection. "I can't stop it from here. We'll have to do a manual reset."

She got up and pulled herself under the table, opening a small panel beneath it. A tiny console popped up, one which the intruder hadn't tampered with. "I can do it from here, but I might not make it in time to stop the jump." She thumbed at the tiny keyboard, cursing its size - she didn't have the deftness of her youth anymore, and these miniature keys were particularly frustrating right now, when time was of the essence.

Re-calibrating for new destination: Axell IV [[ 2.8% ]]​

 

[C.DEX]

Levi left Suther to descend the ship, the Captain with his gun pointing toward the ground as he walked from room to room, clearing them as he went. For all intents and purposes, the ship had seemed calm, apart from an occasional close call that had been getting even more occasional as Sinna flew them away from the newly-made asteroid field that had sparked their concern in the first place. Suther wasn't going from room to room with no goal in mind, however. No; the grainy CCTVs that Sinna had in the cockpit had indicated that he was moving further down the ship, toward the engine.

Levi had a different idea in mind, however, intending on utilizing the Curator's Combatant in order to help their search. He had gone the opposite direction of Suther, making his way up toward the cockpit. He shuffled quickly from room to room, trying to get a gauge for where the Combatant would be. The Vault was his next step, but it was standard fare to work from top to bottom.

Re-calibrating for new destination: Axell IV [[ 5.8% ]]​

He stumbled upon the Combatant soon enough, finding him working his way through the hall, keeping just as assertive of an eye as Suther had been. The Combatant levelled his weapon up at the Chaplain just as soon as he had come into view, and soon Levi was looking down the barrel of a gun. Audi lowered his weapon as soon as he had realized it was Levi, and the Chaplain raised a hand. "You're not in the Vault?" Levi asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Investigating." Audi replied. "It doesn't seem like the threat has been fully assessed, and I am comfortable with the security that your Vault possesses for my charge." he said, matter-of-factly. "Is there any new information?"

"None that we're trying to broadcast, happen that we're compromised." Levi replied, glancing back toward the doorway. "If you're out here, we could use your assistance. The Captain is making his way toward the engine as we speak and I am covering the top half of the ship." he said.

"The engine?"

"The ship is being routed to another point in space; the engines are coming online." Levi replied.

"And I'm assuming that you cannot stop that." Audi said, causing the Chaplain to go silent for a moment, his lips pursing in response. They would normally try to divulge as little information as possible to the Curator and her companions, but it wasn't often that they had been trapped in such a puzzling situation, and Midallin and Audi seemed to be less panicked than they were curious and willing to help. "I am willing to take orders from your crew as long as they do not conflict with the ones from my Curator ... and as of now, she simply wants to assure that the payload is delivered successfully to the location."

The Chaplain stared for a half of a moment longer at the Combatant than he probably should have, and then nodded. "We're looking for a potential intruder now. Whatever you can do to help with that would be optimal." he said, stopping his divulgence. Audi took the tight-lipped gesture in stride, the two of them continuing to move from the top of the ship to the bottom, scanning it for differences.

I believe we may have a problem. The Chaplain has divulged to me that the Captain is making his way toward the engine.

Re-calibrating for new destination: Axell IV [[ 9.6% ]]​

Suther made his way down to the engine room quickly, his hand reaching up to the engineering gear decked to the side of the near-bolted entrance. Normally, he would take more precautions. A sealed suit was usually enough for the radiation that could occur down there, but there really wasn't time. He flicked a pair of engineering goggles onto his eyes; a piece of tech that had been designed to detect faults in a system, and shield his eyes from the more blinding portions involved in engineering a hyperspace drive.

"I'm there." Suther announced. "Sinna, can you guide me to turning this thing off? I think I know what I'm doing, but I'd hate to tear the bottom of this ship off with me in it. And I think it starting up with me in this vicinity then ... well, that wouldn't be real smart."

 

[Lyro]

Midallin pursed her lips, but tried to show no other outward sign of her displeasure. She had to assume she was being watched now. While she sat in silent contemplation, however, her mind raced as she consulted her neural link for information.

He plans to shut off the engine before the calibration is complete. It would allow him to reset the course. But, this is an older ship model - he cannot do it while in transit. The danger of getting trapped in a space-fold would be too great.

She would have to risk it. While attempting to look bored, she got up and moved to sit back down in front of her Vault terminal. She still couldn't do much from where she was, but she could pull up some additional information about the ship's internals. According to her implants, ships of this variety all had a subnetwork dedicated to the drive's reconfiguration, which Sinna and Suther would have to access in order to reset the engine. If only she could locate an access point... there.

I am transmitting a map of the ship with three access points highlighted, she sent, along with a picture of the map she was looking at. Locate the one closest to you, and shut it down quickly, before they can finish their operation. It will cut the power to that system and a few other non-essential ones, but will trigger an alarm the moment it's switched off. Do you think you can pull it off?


Sinna's fingers trembled as she hurriedly scrolled through the ship's technical manual to reach the relevant part. "No, no it wouldn't. Alright. Listen carefully. Neither of us are engineers, and every section of this chapter is prefaced with a note reminding us we really shouldn't do what we're about to do. So let's go slowly..."

Re-calibrating for new destination: Axell IV [[ 10.2% ]]​

"... but efficiently. Locate the blue thermal regulation dial, turn it to its maximum setting..."

 

[C.DEX]

Audi looked to Levi. It had been unfortunate that the Chaplain had chosen to follow him, especially if he had wanted the guise of being aligned to the ship. As he was regarding the man, Levi looked up to him. "We should split up here." he said, looking to either side of them. There had been a door for each of them to take: one leading to the small residential area for the crewmembers, and the other leading to the Chaplain's botany office. If they traveled further it would lead them around the vault, and then to the other end of the ship where Suther would be.

"Take Botany; I'll take the residential areas as I have access." Levi said, splitting up from Audi to take the residential areas, and going from room to room to punch in the emergency code. The cockpit and the Vault were the only places that could be completely locked off from someone with the right codes, though Suther himself kept the master key. Audi nodded in response to the Chaplain as he went toward the crew rooms, the door shutting behind him.

He raised his wrist, regarding the map that appeared on it, and then went further down the hall.

The Chaplain may be an issue ... depending on how long he takes to scout the residential zone. What are my directives if I am discovered?

The Combatant stepped into an office on the same side as the Botany, which he had quickly identified as Suther's. He glanced around for a panel, not seeing anything immediately obvious. He once again brought up the map, which had directed him to the far end of the room. In the same fashion as before, he slipped his fingers into the wall tile, and ripped it open. Before him was a small plug.

...Their system is truly archaic. That's well enough for us, though.

Audi flipped his wrist over, rubbing a portion of his finger across the bottom of it until a small metallic sliver had come out, unwinding like a long, thin piece of paper that shone metallically in the dim ship light. He pulled it out, pressing it into the slot.

Re-calibrating for new destination: Axell IV [[ 15.2% ]]​

"Did that." Suther said, finding the dial that Sinna had noted and turning it up. He followed each of her instructions to the letter, knowing well that if something had gone wrong then he could potentially be dead quicker than he would even realize. Just as the engine's thrum began to quiet, however, the controls had gone completely slack. He didn't realize what was happening; just that the engine had begun to come back online and nothing he changed had mattered anymore.

"...Sinna?" he asked. "This god damn thing won't -"

Suddenly, an alarm came on, bathing the engine room in red light. Suther cursed, glancing back to the door. Then, he looked to the engine again, the heat coming off of it getting exponentially volcanic until it was almost unbearable to stay in the room. He reached over, patience wearing thin, and pulled down the fuel lock on the side of the drive. He grabbed the external handle, throwing his foot up to press against the metal to the side of it, and put all of his strength into pulling the uranium cell out.

This was his ship, and they weren't going to depart into unknown space if he had a say in it.

Re-calibration stopped. Error: Fuel cell depleted.​

 

[Lyro]

"Suther, what are you--" The radiation alarm began to blare in the background of the Captain's audio feed, and Sinna stared at her screen in shock as several warnings popped up. She barely registered the countdown's interruption as her attention was diverted to the incoming reports of major power loss and rising radiation levels. "What... get out of there, now!" she yelled into her mic.

Wasting no time, she got to her feet and made her way over to the room's transport beam, all the while still talking to Suther. "Captain, tell me you did not just manually unload a ship fuel cell. Tell me you are not that foolhardy." The infirmary was fortunately quite close to the ship's engine room - a common occurrence on old fission-powered ships for precisely this kind of situation. It wouldn't take long for her to reach it. "Whatever you did, though, you just received a radiation dose several thousand times higher than what most people get in their entire lives. Forget whatever it is you're trying to do and get to the med-bay right now."


Midallin waited in silence in the Vault as the situation unfolded around her. From where she was in the ship, she could not hear any of the alarms going on, and her foot tapped impatiently against the metal floor. She despised these kinds of situations. She had the utmost faith in Audi's capabilities (and, more importantly, his unswerving loyalty), but she was not used to being sidelined for so long. The fact that she was almost entirely in the dark as to what was going on aboard the ship did not help.

Well? Did it work?


That didn't sound good, faint though the sound was. From where Beenma had managed to hide himself, a few rooms over from the engine room, the radiation alarm was just a distant whine, yet its urgency was audible even from here. He tried to ignore it as he continued trying to boot up his stolen access tablet.