Undesignated planet in the Kauthen Expanse Mid day
"And what have we found, mister Jeffords?" An inquisitive but patient voice asked over the comms.
Keith "Turbine" Jeffords, Doctor Callister's assistant, heaved a sigh of weariness before activating his audio pickup. It had all started with the promise of an extra course credit! Now he was hanging off the outside of a spaceship hovering next to a floating alien obelisk on a planet no one had ever heard of! To make it better, the planet was just awash in wind and sand. Every few minutes you could be sure of a sandstorm. Oh yeah, and to top it off he was now, by proxy, an interstellar outlaw! He calmed himself before replying.
"Doc, we've got similar readings to the first 3, but the inscription is more extensive. Transferring glyphs now."
"Remarkable!" He heard, "...Yes! Yes, mister Jeffords I believe this is what we've been missing! This sequence might be a large enough sample for the translation matrix! Come on inside."
Keith gratefully detached from the wall and reeled himself in. The Canopus Coast, his Trailblazer shuttle now outfitted for quick maneuvering, was a tight fit for the two of them with all of their supplies and the doctor's equipment.
The doctor was his usual blustery self, picking through scattered notes and scratching at a curly white beard as Keith sealed the hatch. "Mr. Jeffords, are you familiar with Zehil's hypothesis?" He asked with a gleam in his eye.
"Um." Keith was just so tired. All he could focus on was searching around the cockpit's crowded containers for his canteen. "I think that-"
There was static on the comms. Someone was in contact! Keith rushed to adjust for the interference.
"---bine, Turbine! We're on our way! Tell Doctor Cal we've got it! It's just like he said! We're preparing to send the--" It was strange, what was this new source of interference?
Keith peered out into the sky and saw those telltale silhouettes. He rushed to the transmitter. "You were followed! Get out now!"
Keith wracked his brain. The hunters were about to be on them. He wiped sweat and sand off his forehead.
Then he had it. The thing that had made this survey so difficult, that had plagued them since they'd arrived. This damned planet. He almost chuckled.
The damned sandstorms would save them.
Version 1.36 - Breacher
New Map: Breacher
Crash out of the latest map, Breacher! A remote comet station!
Weave between the ice pillars! But don't get fooled by the reflections!
Finally reentering normalspace after their odyssey through the divide, the runners are no safer than they were before! The pursuit continues even here at the edge of the system!
Story - Reyliant
067894-590697-489569058-00192 // Structure breach. Assess; ............ // Breach assessed. Concern level 8. Concern level deemed considerable. Wake protocol confirm validity; ........ // Wake Protocol confirms. Commence wake cycle; .. // ERROR - wake cycling incomplete. Assess error; ........... Unknown error. Assessment failed. Assess error - use authority level 8; ........... // Unknown error. Assessment failed. Concern level increased to 10. Post breach assessment required. Assess breach; ............... // Multiple electronic signatures. Pattern not recognized. Engage level 10 rate defense strategy 256; ...... // Warning - unable to engage - mechanism failed. // Detection of biological matter within ionic fusion chamber. Cleanse chamber; // Unable to cleanse chamber. Ionic fusion threshold at minimal output. Concern level increased to 10+. Deem situation volatile and critical. Commence. Wake. Cycle. Now; .. // ERROR - wake cycle incomplete. Relay message; // Relaying... Message - unable to wake, unable to defend, concern level maximized. Single action, observe. End. // Message relayed. Commence observation. ....
// Observation. Commenced.
Story - Orion 1
"Oh, don't be headed THERE, if ye value yer LIFE!" The old man in the shadowy corner of the bar piped up suddenly, "That place be under the ghostly sway of ORION'S CURSE!" He gave an unsettling grin, showing missing teeth, some of which had been replaced with electrum.
Ezichi “Apogee” Razzaq paused mid-sentence. She’d been having a quiet conversation with Ordinal, about to shoot down their new harebrained idea. She turned, leaning around, to give the old man a bemused look. Apogee was about to give him a piece of her mind but he continued loudly.
"The whole place, ye see, is alive, rather, it's risen from the DEAD! And it DON’T want no visitors!" The old man laughed a small, hacking, coughing laugh. Despite themselves, the two pilots found their hearts chilled.
Story - Structica
Carrier Orion Shipboard time 17:00
Theta 3 gazed out the porthole, caught in a starscape reverie.
A nudge brought him out of it.
Theta 2 was there with two drinks and handed him one. When she noticed there was something bothering him, she paused.
“Listen,” She said matter-of-factly, “It’s a break. Try to relax. One said we might not get another one for a while. After that business at Protana, I heard they’re looking at a full system sweep.”
At the mention of Protana, Three’s face became blank. “I know, I know. My brother was at Protana.”
“...Ah…” Two gritted her teeth in mortification, “I…”
The alarm cut off her fumbling response.
Across the room, Theta 1 stopped mid-war-story and crushed his can in his hand, throwing it effortlessly into the receptacle. He called to the room, “Showtime.”
One ran off towards the hangar, followed close behind by the rest of Hunter team Theta.
“What do we have?” He spoke quickly into his ear-comms.
“Sensor trip. Warning from one of our automated refuel and rearm stations. Designation Structica. Readings show between 2 and 5 small craft matching configurations favoured by groups including the runners.”
“Structica…” Spoke Two, “Isn’t a ship docked there?”
“Correct, Two. The cruiser Falling Fury. Ordinarily she’d be able to handle it, but she’s not done her refit. No munitions aboard and only a skeleton crew.”
They soon reached the hangar. Deck crews were just finishing up preparing the team’s ships for launch.
As Theta 3 climbed the ladder up to the cockpit of his Scythe-class heavy interceptor, he looked back at the other craft and their payloads, bristling with the top-grade tracking and apprehension equipment, and nodded his head. They’d catch these guys and find out just how they had taken out an entire carrier. Failing that, a homing missile would make sure they couldn’t escape. Protana was the last time the hunters would be caught unawares.
Story - Upper Vale
Awoken by a loud 'whooshing' sound, bleary eyes opened. "Computer, readout warnings."
A pleasant omnipresent voice responded, "Certainly. There is one warning in effect. Class 5. Several vessels are currently involved in maneuvers intermittently intersecting all commercial and residential sectors with grid coordinates 12 3 17. All individuals within these sectors are advised to take shelter."
As the computer spoke, the occupant had already gone to the window which filled an entire wall of the small room and parted the blinds. They stood, silhouetted against the bright sunny morning and gleaming white towers of the sky enclave of Upper Vale as a vessel shot past. The rumbling of its fiery red engines momentarily shook the room and left a streaking trail of energy which blotted out their view before it dissipated.
Having gone from curious concern to wild worry, they recognized that craft, or more accurately the organization which used vessels like it. Upper Vale was no longer the safe haven it was supposed to be. They had to get out.
A bag of essentials. A flight suit and helmet. An encrypted tag: id ORDINAL.
Time to get back in the air. They took one final look at the apartment and the life it had represented. Back into freefall.
Lore - Upper Vale
Awoken by a loud 'whooshing' sound, bleary eyes opened. "Computer, readout warnings."
A pleasant omnipresent voice responded, "Certainly. There is one warning in effect. Class 5. Several vessels are currently involved in maneuvers intermittently intersecting all commercial and residential sectors with grid coordinates 12 3 17. All individuals within these sectors are advised to take shelter."
As the computer spoke, the occupant had already gone to the window which filled an entire wall of the small room and parted the blinds. They stood, silhouetted against the bright sunny morning and gleaming white towers of the sky enclave of Upper Vale as a vessel shot past. The rumbling of its fiery red engines momentarily shook the room and left a streaking trail of energy which blotted out their view before it dissipated.
Having gone from curious concern to wild worry, they recognized that craft, or more accurately the organization which used vessels like it. Upper Vale was no longer the safe haven it was supposed to be. They had to get out.
A bag of essentials. A flight suit and helmet. An encrypted tag: id ORDINAL.
Time to get back in the air. They took one final look at the apartment and the life it had represented. Back into freefall.
Version 1.35 - Zehil Divide
New Map: Zehil Divide
Blast off to the latest map, Zehil Divide! A rift between dimensions!
Dodge around rocks and hide under the waves - of the upper or lower seas!
The runners may have escaped from the clutches of Artemis, but this uncanny place has not offered any sanctuary from the hunters!
Their only hope is to keep going. Maybe normal space lies on the other end of another gateway?
Story - Protana 2
Planet New Caledonia, Equatorial Region 26:03 Local time
Venna "Zephyr" Soris was doing some after-hours tuning on her ship, the Updraft, in the hangar of the hideout. It was slow and meticulous work, but she was accompanied by her music and silence.
That was until the Green Recluse made an all-but-crash-landing, streaking in through the exterior entrance, it's spindly wings folding in on their actuators as they hit solid ground. Of course, at the time, she had never heard of the Green Recluse, but the ship would soon become famous. When she would later tell the story, she had recognized the ship right away and ran to help. In reality she had been yelling angrily at the newcomer for ruining her groove. But a moment later she remembered herself and ran towards the ship which had come skidding across the deck-plate, smashing some shelves of tools at the back as it didn't quite reach the back wall.
Venna could see the ship had been through hell. It had scrapes and scoring all over it, as well as a strange sooty coating which was even now evaporating into tiny green embers and flaking to nothing.
She hesitantly touched the ship and found it hot to the touch. In the moment of her hesitation, the cockpit canopy jerked open with a hiss and a figure tumbled out and down the ship, landing, panting on the deck. The flight-helmet completely obscured their face, with its dark visor. At last the figure snapped the collar off and quickly broke the seal. They unclasped the chinstrap and the helmet tumbled off, along with the flight cap underneath.
A matted mess of sweaty hair came loose and a harrowed face was revealed. Venna caught them before they collapsed completely.
The pilot was trying to say something, their breath catching. Finally they got out one word,
"...Protana…"
Venna couldn't have known it then, but this was the start of a journey that would lead to places far beyond her imagination. At the time, she just replied, "Wha?"
Lore - Protana 2
Planet New Caledonia, Equatorial Region 26:03 Local time
Venna "Zephyr" Soris was doing some after-hours tuning on her ship, the Updraft, in the hangar of the hideout. It was slow and meticulous work, but she was accompanied by her music and silence.
That was until the Green Recluse made an all-but-crash-landing, streaking in through the exterior entrance, it's spindly wings folding in on their actuators as they hit solid ground. Of course, at the time, she had never heard of the Green Recluse, but the ship would soon become famous. When she would later tell the story, she had recognized the ship right away and ran to help. In reality she had been yelling angrily at the newcomer for ruining her groove. But a moment later she remembered herself and ran towards the ship which had come skidding across the deck-plate, smashing some shelves of tools at the back as it didn't quite reach the back wall.
Venna could see the ship had been through hell. It had scrapes and scoring all over it, as well as a strange sooty coating which was even now evaporating into tiny green embers and flaking to nothing.
She hesitantly touched the ship and found it hot to the touch. In the moment of her hesitation, the cockpit canopy jerked open with a hiss and a figure tumbled out and down the ship, landing, panting on the deck. The flight-helmet completely obscured their face, with its dark visor. At last the figure snapped the collar off and quickly broke the seal. They unclasped the chinstrap and the helmet tumbled off, along with the flight cap underneath.
A matted mess of sweaty hair came loose and a harrowed face was revealed. Venna caught them before they collapsed completely.
The pilot was trying to say something, their breath catching. Finally they got out one word,
"...Protana…"
Venna couldn't have known it then, but this was the start of a journey that would lead to places far beyond her imagination. At the time, she just replied, "Wha?"
