Mysterious Shards and Mysterious Meetings “I don’t give a crap what you have to do. Just get me more power, now!” “Impetuous pirate,” Artemus scoffed after hearing the recording played back by Leo. They had to out run the specter, it was their only chance. That blaster would not stop it, not even if all of the ships energy was redirected to it, and of course they couldn’t afford to turn the power off from the sail generator… “I have an idea,” Artemus spoke to Leo. “Tell the ‘captain’ that he can have his power, but that he will only get a moments power. Prepare to redirect all the power to the starboard blaster the moment the sail generator is turned off. That crazy pirate can get his shot off then. But as soon as the shard is installed return maximum power to the sails.” They would need the diversion while their sails were down. He just hoped it would slow the creature enough for them to escape. Outside the ship, Leo relayed the plan to Jax. “I will alert you five seconds before the energy is redistributed. My sensors indicate that Mr. Searwin is in the engineering room and will begin the protocol to power down the sail generator before removing the current…” the computer broke off, for a moment before returning, “Commence firing immediately.” The field inside the shard blaster suddenly radiated with luminous energy as Leo quickly diverted the power from the sail generator, allowing Jax a single high energy shot at the fast approaching specter. Inside the ship, Leo chided Rael. “Mr. Searwin, in the future please follow protocol to properly disengage the power from the sail generator before..” the computerized voice continued but Rael was disinterested. The serpentine shard creature had followed him into the generator room and now hung weightlessly in the air at eye level as though it were sizing the large man up. The super shard in the field generator began to glow with a warm orange light that colored everything in the room, and reflected off the iridescent crystals of the creature. The ship lurched as it picked up speed. “Good show gentlemen!” came Artemus’s voice over the intercom. The creature in front of Rael tipped its front toward the speaker as though to look at it. Then, before he could react is slipped past Rael. Circling behind the generator it stooped low near the dislodged shard on the floor before beginning a slow orbit around the massive orange shard in the field generator.
Andrea Dawson Andrea was helping Gabriella lower the injured man to the floor when the sound of rushing footsteps reached her. Turning around she glanced out the door to see one of the men from the group rushing past towards the ladder at the end of the hall. Then she saw the creature. It was made of shards and moved with a graceful, floating motion. Andrea's first thought was that it was a specter, but it didn't fit any description of a specter she had ever heard. Carefully letting go of the man, Andrea stood up and quietly walked over to the door, watching the creature as it sped down the hall after the other man. Eyebrows raised she turned back to Gabriella. "Do you know what that was? Should we follow it?"
Gabriella Escalante Andrea turned to Gabriella with eyes wide in surprise. She had seen it too, and it definitely wasn't good news. "Do you know what that was? Should we follow it?" Gabriella took a look at their patient - the scientist was intoxicated with anesthesia, and couldn't really do or say much at the moment. He could barely move. They couldn't just leave him. "You stay with the patient, I'm going to go find out what the hell's going on here!" And with that she was off, quickly drawing her handgun and tach rod. Gabby went down the same corridor as Rael and the creature, and soon she was in the room with the power generator, the orange light of the recently installed shard illuminated everything dazzlingly. She still had no knowledge of the operation to replace the shard, but that wasn't the issue at the moment. Rael stood watching the creature, almost perplexed with its activities. It was circling the giant orange shard. She walked closer to the giant man, pointing her weapon at the beast. It was a wonder it hadn't attacked anyone yet. "What is that?" She asked as Michael scanned his index in her goggles for anything resembling the snake-like entity.
More than an escape... In the viewscreen beside him Artemus saw the terrible specter grow smaller and smaller as the distance between them grew. He smiled to himself in victory. “Leo, how is that shard behaving; what is our current speed?” “We are currently travelling at 450 milli-c. The shard appears to be responding normally, however, I have detected some unusual frequencies within it since it was installed.” “450 milli-c! What a shard! Plot a course to the Cerelin system, but keep an eye on things, the Albatross wasn’t designed to travel at these speeds for extended periods,” the scientist allowed the AI to do its work and left the pilots seat to check on his guests and see what kind of damage they had created. Reaching the medical bay he found Andrea and the shifty pink haired girl tending to the injured young man. Gerty suddenly paused in what she was doing and gripped her head as the voice that only she could hear spoke once again. Her whole body began to tremor as a look of terror and panic overtook her. “Its not over,” she bagan to sob “they will never stop chasing us..” the girls panicked eyes pierced right through Artemus. His mind reeled, how could she have known the warning of the old spacer? A deck below in the engineering room, Gabriella and Rael gazed at the peculiar creature circling the magnificent glowing shard. "What is that?" Rael didn’t answer, he was too busy watching the thing was beginning to change. The broad flat array of slender shards reorganized as did the thing’s spine. The pieces moved and flowed independently to form two rings around the shard that flowed circled in opposing directions. Bathed in the orange glow of the shard the new configuration of reflective crystals was breathtaking. A tiny white spark leapt out from the circling shards, it was reciprocated by an orange spark that was returned by the larger shard in the generator. An interchange of energy followed, passing back and forth between the shard and the creature. For a moment the flowing ring of crystals glowed a brilliant white, they then moved away from the shard and reformed into the flat undulating teardrop they had been before. The creature gently and quickly glided out of the room. The two shard seekers looked at each other briefly before the shard in the generator began to hum. It pulsed with light as its orange aura gradually changed to a brilliant blue that shone brighter than before. “Doctor,” Gabreilla and Rael heard Leo call over the intercoms, “there seems to be a problem with the sail generator. The tachyon fields are no longer responding, we are accelerating rapidly and being pulled off course.” Still outside the ship Capt. Jax watched as the gently glowing tachyon sails of the ship were replaced by powerful blue fields.
Jax Roberts “Authorization granted.” The power display started flashing as the energy was redirected. He waited, taking carefull aim at the creature. Beads of sweat rolled off the top of his forhead, fogging up his visor. “Come on just a little bit more…” The power display reached critacal mass. Suddenly the ship lurched forward, causing Jax to lose his footing. Dispair filled his contenounce as he struggled to gain purchase. Everything seemed to have slowed down as Jax floated waitlessly away from the speeding ship. “Snap!” His whip latched around one of the ships rungs. The whip was taught as the ship dragged him in it wake. He looked at the ship and he could see that the sails had turned a deep blue. He tried to retract his whip but he was moving to fast. He was getting a little light headed as held on. His oxygen was running out and it would need refilling soon. A memory danced before his eyes. Jax stood as a boy looking out at the shard dealers, his stomach rumbled as he eyed the largest one, it was deep scarlet speckled with white. His nimble fingers reached for it as the large mustachioed dealer talked boisterously to his colleuge. Cautiously he walked away, an egglike shape bulgeing beneath his shirt. But the dealer saw him. Jax gasped. He could almost feel the cool metal as it sliced, so effortlessly through bone and tendon. Jax looked at the red shard locked inside of his robotic prostethis. He was fifteen when he tracked that man down and killed him. Jax never backed down from what he set out to do and he would be damned if the dreaded captain, Jax Roberts died dragged along like a fish on a line. He had set out to get the biggest shard known to man and he intended to do just that. He pulled at the whip with his other hand. He strained against the whip and slowly he moved a little bit more forward. Jax smiled, he wasn’t dead yet. Inch by inch he began to pull himself closer to the ship.
Andrea Dawson "You stay with the patient, I'm going to go find out what the hell's going on here!" Before Andrea could respond Gabriella had rushed out of the room after the strange creature, drawing her weapons. Andrea watched the door for a moment longer then instantly turned her attention back to the unconcious engineer. A million specter creatures could go by and it wouldn't change the fact that he still needed care. Moving away from the door she walked over the man's side and knelt down. Quickly she ran a scan of his vitals. Besides being unresponsive and unconcious everything looked fine. Looking up she beckoned to the pink haired woman who had just thrown up. "I need you to lift him carefully into a sitting position so I can give put something under his shoulders to elevate his chest and arm." As Andrea started to shift the engineer Artemus suddenly appeared in the door. As if in reaction to Artemus' presence the pink haired woman grabbed her head and began to shake violently. “Its not over,” she bagan to sob “they will never stop chasing us..” Andrea looked up at Aretmus with huge eyes. He looked slightly stunned, as if he had just been punched. Something was going on here, something not right. Lowering the engineer to the floor she slid to the woman's side and gently directed her face so that their eyes met. "I want to help you, but I need you to help me. Can you tell me who you're talking to and about?" Andrea adopted the soothing but directive voice she used when talking to a distressed patient. It was only in these type of situations that she seemed to break out of her shy, quiet shell that melted so easily into the background. As she spoke she pressed a button on her AI to run a discreet scan of the woman's vitals. Just then a voice spoke to Artemus over the intercom. “Doctor, there seems to be a problem with the sail generator. The tachyon fields are no longer responding, we are accelerating rapidly and being pulled off course.” Still concentrating on the woman in front of her Andrea shot a half glance at Artemus. How has she ever thought being on this trip wouldn't put her in over her head?
Chalice Enchon Name: Chalice Enchon Gender: Female Occupation: Shardsmith Personality: Chalice has a power of deep concentration and short, intense bursts of activity. She has a tendancy to shut out all other thoughts when she is working on an idea and will sometimes go for days without food or sleep. However, she also has a short attention span, and once distracted from a project, it's extremely hard for her to return to it. As a result, she tends to leave projects unfinished and abandoned. She's friendly, but is more interested in technology than people. Often, she will be more focused on a gadget than the one wearing it. Age: 24 Background: Chalice doesn't have any great inner demons or a past that she's running from. She's just a young shardsmith trying to make her way in the universe. She works mostly freelance, getting by mostly on royalties earned from past inventions. However, these royalties are rather slim so she's always strapped for cash, and thus always looking for a new job.
Chalice slammed her fist into the cold metal of the lavatory door once again. "Hey! Anyone out there!" No response. Whatever commotion was happening on the other side of that door was drowning out her cries. Once again, she cursed her shortsightedness at leaving her headset on the engine room counter. It's just a quick bathroom break, she had told herself. I won't need it. How wrong she had been. Someone or something had cut the wiring to the lavatory's systems. Now the door was sealed, the locks were jammed, the intercom was dead, and the lights were running dimly off the emergency power grid. Fortunately breathing was not a problem; the ship featured redundant life-support systems. "Thanks be to the heavens for small favors, I suppose", she groused to herself. Forcefully she pressed down the intercom switch, knowing full well it was a futile gesture. "Artemus? Leo? Arphaxhad? Can you read me?" No reply of course. Hang on... She leaned close to the intercom panel, squinting in the dim light. Those screws seemed loose. Perhaps... Digging into the pocket of her jumpsuit, she pulled out a paperclip and jammed the curved end into the screw's slotted head. It was a loose fit but it seemed to work; the screw followed the paperclip, albeit with much reluctance, as she turned it. After several minutes and a degree of difficulty, Chalice managed to remove three of the screws from the panel, allowing it to swing loose upon the fourth. She gazed upon the tangle of wires below, studying them, tracing their origins and destinations with a finger, learning their purposes. Choosing one, she deftly ripped out an end and held it at a distance, careful to keep the end from her skin. She studied the wires again and pulled out another, this one leading to the emergency power grid. Cursing the sudden darkness, she touched the two wires together. As sparks flew from the connection, the intercom crackled to life. She jabbed her finger into the intercom switch. "Artemus? Artemus, do you read me?"
Gabriella Escalante The creature disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared. Gabby wasn't sure exactly what it had done to the shard, but the glow was now a dark blue, and much larger than before. She stepped back, as if in fear of the new pulsating light. Then the ship's AI sounded through the intercom. “Doctor, there seems to be a problem with the sail generator. The tachyon fields are no longer responding, we are accelerating rapidly and being pulled off course.” The ship lurched forcibly, and Gabriella stumbled to keep her ground. Holstering her weapons, she spoke to her AI, "Michael, show me the ship's new course." A detailed map of the current star system displayed in her view with a point near the border indicating the ship's current location. "The Albatross is heading towards uncharted territory. Systems don't indicate a specific location." They were heading for the outer rim. Gabby reached into the pouch at her waist, brushing her fingers against Bear's AI. She almost smiled. Soon Hawkins, soon. She turned to Rael. "Let's go see if there's anything we can do, big guy."
Artemus Antair "Artemus? Artemus, do you read me?" The voice over the intercom interrupted the awkward moment in the med bay. "Dear god, Chalice!" How could he have forgotten her! The scientist turned toward the hallway and spoke toward the ceiling as though he expected to find the girl there. "Chalice where have you been! We were nearly destroyed and now the sail generator has gone haywire! Get out here this instant!" As he spoke the crystalline creature drifted by. It slipped past the doctor and quickly looped around each of the girls seated on the med bay floor. Artemus turned and raised a stern finger at it, "Not you again! You get back in the cargo bay, I mean it this time! I'll have none of your nonsense." The creature shook and each of its crystals vibrated in disapproval, but it followed the doctor's orders and slipped back down the hall and back into the damaged bulk head. "Doctor, we are still accelerating, we have reached 650 milli-c," came Leo's calm voice. "Chalice is in the lavatory. The door controls seem to have been damaged when the bulkhead wall was damaged." "Damned meat head," Artemus muttered to himself. "Also, I must remind you that Mr. Roberts is still outside of the Albatross." "DAMNED PIRATE!" Artemus shouted out loud.
She turned to Rael. "Let's go see if there's anything we can do, big guy." Gabriella said. Rael nodded started heading back to the cockpit. He was just heading past the medical bay when he heard the intercom speaking. "Also I must remind you that Mr. Roberts is still outside of the ablatross." It was Leo the ships AI. Rael had to stifle a laugh at the thought of someone hanging on to the outside of the ship, before realising the seriousness of the situation. He stuck his head into the bay. "I'll get Jax." He said before heading off to find where he had left the ship. Checking the cockpit there was no sign he had left by it. He started to head back down the hall when he noticed the maintanence hatch and missing suit. No time to find a suit he grabbed the helmet and started climbing the ladder. He marvelled at the giant spectre as his head left the hatch. It was truely a beauty, a killer beauty but a beauty non the less. Looking a round he couldn't see any sign of Jax. He pushed his head back inside to take a breath before he climbed higher up the ladder leaving the safety of the hatch, Jax comming into sight a little way from the ladder crossing the side of the ship. He was hanging on by his whip and attempting to pull him self in. Rael climbed onto the side of the ship, gribbing the rungs of the ladder as he moved towards Jax, his lungs complaining for air. In reach of the whip he punched his drill into the hull, anchoring himself as he grabbed the whip. Straining he pulled it using all his might to swing Jax up and over towards the hatch. He mentally sighed with relief as Jax dropped into the hatch. His lungs were burning now as he headed back, vision starting to fade. His breath left him as he reached the entrance falling forwards and into darkness.
Jax Roberts Jax looked up at the cold metal ceiling of the ship. Dizziness enveloped him as he tried to get up. “What the…” He managed to say before he fell backwards on his butt. He waited for the dizziness to stop. He took off the facemask. That was a ballsy move; swinging him in like that he would have to thank the big guy later. Who knows maybe after they got off this ship he could find him a giant lady friend or something. Jax got up; the dizziness wasn’t to bad as he stumbled forward. He tried his intercom but the thing just gargled static. As he walked down the hall, he could hear a faint knocking sound. He followed the sound until he reached one of the ships bathrooms. The sound had stopped. He pressed his ear against the door. “Nock. Nock. Nock.” “Hello? Is somebody in their?” he tried the lock but it wouldn’t budge. Well I guess there's only one way to find out. “If you can hear me, you might want to stand back.” Jax’s left arm punched into the metal steel door, creating a small whole. He then reached through the whole and easily peeled the door from its frame. A young woman stood before Jax. “Now where the heck did you come from?”
Gabriella Escalante Gabby rushed over to the maintenance hatch to find Rael passed out on the floor. Jax had already fled the scene - how pirate-like of him. Michael began to scan the big man's vitals as she knelt down beside him, placing her hand on his wrist. The man had ventured outside of the craft with only a helmet - a helmet that wouldn't have helped him breathe anyway. She knew some of the people on this mission were bound to have a few screws loose, but this was beyond anything she'd experienced before. She pulled Rael's helmet off and tapped his cheek in an attempt to bring him back to consciousness. "Vitals 80%," Michael spoke into her ear, "Oxygen levels and respiration normalising." So he would survive. Gabriella sat back and waited for the man to regain consciousness. It might have been a good idea to bring him to the infirmary, but there was no way she could carry this guy by herself. She wondered how Andrea was getting on with the other patients.
Artemus Antair Antair hear another loud bang and the sound of a metal door being pulled off its hinges. “STOP TEARING UP MY SHIP!!” “Doctor, I must inform you that we have reached 750 milli-c, and our course has settled into a predictable path.” Leo interrupted the doctor’s rage. “That’s beyond the space flight record. Where is the shard taking us?” “We are on course to DL5179.” “Is that a planet?” “No Doctor Antair, it is a star.” Antair’s face turned ghastly white. They were speeding beyond the known limits straight into a star. “Cut the power, cut the shard, cut everything!” bellowed Artemus. “Impact with DL5179 in 15 seconds.” They were traveling too fast. There was no time to do anything. Artemus rushed to the helm to see the inferno that would be their death. Upon arriving the giant yellow dwarf was already filling most of the viewscreen. It grew larger and larger as the ship began to rattle and vibrate. The heat of the star could be felt through the ships protective shielding. Something moved beside Antair. Glancing sideward he noticed that the Nano-specter, as he called it, had again snuck out of the bulkhead and was hovering silently beside him. The viewscreen was now a glaring panel of boiling orange and yellow. In the center of the screen there appeared a tiny black speck. It was almost imperceptible at first but grew and grew rapidly until it out competed the glaring sun. “Sensors responding erratically, re-booting system,” Leo commented before the lights on the ship went out. A moment after the lights went out the vibrations suddenly stopped. Black silence filled the Albatross. No one knew what to do. Then pinpoints of lights appeared. They streamed past the crewmembers through the ship walls and even through their bodies. Faster and faster the lights fled past, and as they sped they grew in size. The crew watched in amazement. The orbs continued to grow and became less dense until they were larger than the ship itself. Suddenly, the silence burst open and the ship again was rattling and vibrating uncontrollably. The lights returned, and the vibrating of the ship slowed and stopped. “Leonardo Deep Space Navigation Aid version 3.1.0 online. Welcome to the Albatross.” The viewscreen in front of Artemus came back online. In its center the glaring sun had been replaced by a small asymmetric planetoid. “Leo, where are we?” “Our current position is Unorganized Space D879,” came the computer’s reply. D879 was deep inside the Outer Rim, and deep in specter territory. “That trip should have taken more than a week…”
Chalice Enchon "Chalice where have you been! We were nearly destroyed and now the sail generator has gone haywire! Get out here this instant!" Artemus' voice drifted through the river of static pouring through the intercom's speaker as it struggled to run on the low-powered emergency grid. Simultaneously relieved to have communication and frustrated that he was yelling at her, Chalice pressed down the intercom switch once more. "It's not my fault! Something killed the power in the toilet, and now I can't get out! This stupid door won't budge!" She slammed her fist into the door a few times for emphasis, hoping the intercom would pick up the sound. "I've hotwired the intercom into the emergency grid. If Leo can redirect some extra power through that, I think I could..." “Hello? Is somebody in there?” A muffled voice. Someone was on the other side of the door! At last! Chalice could hear whoever it was fumbling at the latch. "Hang on a second, boss." Chalice let go of the intercom switch and addressed her would-be rescuer. "Yeah, I'm stuck; the power's been cut." “If you can hear me, you might want to stand back.” "Um..." Worriedly, she glanced around. The lavatory was tiny; just large enough to contain a water-less toilet and a retractable sink. There was no 'back' in which to stand. "Whatever you're about to do, I don't think it's a good..." A metal fist slammed through the door, inches from her face. Screaming obscenities, she pressed herself against the far wall, shielding her head with her arms. She watched in confusion and horror as the door was torn from its frame and tossed casually aside by a muscular figure. “Now where the heck did you come from?” Startled and livid, Chalice reared to her full height (a full head shorter than his) and yelled at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing, jackass? Punching holes in a ship in deep space? You're going to get us all killed!"
Jax Roberts "What the hell do you think you're doing, jackass? Punching holes in a ship in deep space? You're going to get us all killed!" “Sorry your highness, If it makes you feel better I could probably seal you back in there.” Jax picked up the disregarded door and stepped forward as if to put it back. He smiled as the color drained from the girls face. “No? Well then lets skip the greetings, and get back to the control room. I’ve already got a headache from all of your whining.” Jax turned down the hall not looking back to see if she followed. His head was really throbbing, but is was probably more from the oxygen deprivation. He wondered how far out they were, and more importantly if they were near any civilized planets. Jax thought that he could use a drink right about now. Hell, after what he’d just been through he could use about ten. Suddenly the ships power cut out. Odd pulsing lights were shining all around Jax. “What the heck is going on?” The lights continued to dance and the ship began to vibrate. The odd lights flashed out and the vibrating stopped. Jax stood dumbfounded as the ships power came back on. “Well, that was weird.” said Jax, as he continued on towards the control room.
Chapter 2 “Damned Seekers,” Artemus mumbled under his breath as the guided the ship carefully to the surface of the planetoid. After the space warp, which Artemus was still puzzling over, one of the medics in the group of refugees claimed that the tiny planet they had arrived at matched the coordinates that the late Bear Billows was directing them too. With no small amount of deliberation, the refugees had convinced him to land and permit them to carry out their search for the missing seeker Hawkens. Part of the deal was that any booty retrieved from the planet, the real reason Artemus believed they were so eager to land, would be split 40/60 as a transport fee. Now, as Artemus lowered the landing gear, his thoughts turned to the shard that had brought them here. It may well have been true that the specter horde had been following him since he purchased the shard, despite his previous denial. So far, his studies of it had been inconclusive. But seeing how it had warped the ship across the galaxy of its own accord, he was more convinced than ever that his hypothesis was correct. But what did the micro-specter have to do with it? If he was to believe the report of the refugees, the micro-specter had somehow 'awoken' the shard and perhaps instigated the space warp. It was probably just happenstance he decided, but the creature was peculiar and he could not for the life of him figure out why it insisted on abiding in HIS ship. It was unlikely that it had anything to do with the shard, as it had appeared just before he had purchased it, but then nothing could be declared for certain, not with the mysterious happenings of late. The Albatross touched down gently on the rocky barren planetoid. “Atmospheric composition and pressure are acceptable for short term exposure,” chimed the ships unflappable AI Leo. Artemus opened the cargo bay door and activated the intercom. “Everybody out that's going out. The ship will be talking off in 36 hours with, or without you. Good luck, your gunna need it.”
Eric sat wrapped in a few bandages, he stared blankly at his broken shard harness. "What the hell..." Eric's still had a lingering headache but other then a few joints he was better. The medics onboard were actually quite talented. "Einstein what happened to my gear?" "I had initiated a tach-sail at your request, the sail had caught the explosion of a specter... And threw you into a building..." Eric shook his head looking at the ground, "Why didn't you disable the sail?" "The sail had malfunctioned you had already lost control before the explosion caught you. It was, however, my idea to reposition the sail to shoot us into the Albatross. Speaking of which we are at Mr. Hawken's last known location..." Eric's head shot up, "Hawken!?" Eric owed a lot to this man. If it wasn't for Him Eric would not be on the outer rim at all. If Hawken didn't take him on board Eric would still be stuck back home in a lab, but now he is out here, on the fringe of known space experiencing things most people never will. He is on the forefront of research and science. He is where he has always wanted to be. Of course Eric never wanted the money, He wasn't the pawn of some corporation, he admired the shards and the Specters. David admired him for that, most people like Eric would run scared when they saw these things. Not Eric... "Is it still operational?" Eric stood up hoisting his awkward shard harness for inspection. "No." "What's broken?" Eric looked down at the scratched wrist display. ".........Analyzing......... ....Server malfunctioning //Ds. Closed Armor malfunctioning/ c/input: Lost c/output: lost t/rod: lost s/module: Malfunctioning .... Overall Condition: CRITICAL ...End" "Well that won't do..." Eric sat the harness on the table he was previously occupying. The ship had a new patient now. He started rummaging through the research equipment occasionally throwing a misc part or tool into a box next to the table... Eric worked ferociously tearing parts off his harness and welding new parts on. People came and went but He was far to absorbed into his project to notice. "Just a bit of programming and we are done Einstein..." Eric mumbled as his fingers flew across the view screen on his wrist mounted AI. *** “Everybody out that's going out. The ship will be talking off in 36 hours with, or without you. Good luck, your gunna need it.” Eric threw the new harness over his head, and locked a clasp on his shoulder. The new Harness was sleek, if nothing else. It no longer had the large attachment on his upper back that gave him a humped back stance. He stood straight now with a single tach rod extending up between his shoulder blades. He had a small back pack installed and a few gadgets adorning the front. But the armor plating and large attachments were gone. Eric left his impromptu workshop and headed to the back of the aircraft, He was going to be one of the first off this ship...
Teresa Averill “Alert. Current location is not within secured space.” Teresa looked up at her ship’s display panel and frowned. Even without an AI in the system, the ship’s computer insisted on vocalising everything it did. “Danger. Power use is not recommended outside of secured space.” Teresa didn’t know why the recent distress signal would take a trajectory leading into specter controlled territory. It must have taken a high level of irrationality for someone to head in that direction. Of course, there was always the chance that the signal was a trap of some sort. But extrapolation from previous data suggested otherwise. “Unknown star system has been entered. Alert. Current location is not within secured space.” The ship’s synthesised voice continued blaring monotone information. Judging from the signal behaviour, it most likely came from a planetary body of some sort. The planet couldn’t have been very large, since the signal appeared to travel in a wide elliptical orbit around its host star. Teresa changed the trajectory of her ship slightly, to match the signal location. If her calculations were correct, the planetary body would come into view in a minute or two. “Notice. Now approaching unknown astronomical object. Alert. Recommend –” Teresa reached over and grabbed a long metal rod from her tool port. Then she nonchalantly jammed the rod into the ship’s intercom, causing the vocal machinery to go up in a flash of sparks. “An inefficient design. Irritating as well,” she announced to no one in particular. Suddenly, her display panel started flashing a warning screen. Teresa automatically knew why: a faint but large energy signature was in the immediate vicinity, and appeared to be approaching the same planetoid that Teresa was targeting. She immediately reached over and shut off her engine systems and power grids. Then she started running a low-power analysis on the energy signature. If it came from a specter, she would be in grave danger. After a few seconds, she realised that the energy signature matched that of a normal, human ship. What were they doing here? The ship appeared to have landed on the planetoid. Perhaps it was responding to the same distress signal that she had intercepted earlier. There was only one good way to find out. Keeping her systems in low-energy, Teresa altered her trajectory to land near ship.
Gabriella Escalante “Everybody out that's going out. The ship will be talking off in 36 hours with, or without you. Good luck, your gunna need it.” Gabby was getting her stuff ready in the hangar. She exchanged the shards on her handgun for new ones that she kept in a pouch around her waist. She was short on both shards and bullets, and with her ship having been abandoned and possibly demolished back at the trading outpost, she would have to be careful. From what she could see however, the rock they were currently on was a barren wasteland - they probably weren't even going to find any shards on it. Oh well, it was better this than being attacked and chased by spectres. She still couldn't get her head around how they escaped earlier, but felt it was better not to question it at this moment. There were others in the hangar, barely speaking, getting ready for the mission. She had transferred the co-ordinates to everyone's AI, so they knew where they should be going. Soon they would find Hawkins. Hopefully they weren't too late. A man bustled into the hangar as the Albatross landed, a large apparatus strapped to his arm. It was Eric from the infirmary. The scientist had woken up several hours ago, and had instantly begun repairs on the contraption that was his demise back at the outpost. It looked lighter now, and less armored - maybe it would be of better use like this. He looked to be in a hurry. "Eric," Gabriella acknowledged, smiling, "did you receive the co-ordinates?"
Rael Searwin Rael lumbered into the hangar rubbing his head. The last thing he remembered was throwing Jax back onto the ship then collapsing. He wondered where the big spectre had gotten to, anywhere far from him was good. Gabriella and the scientist were already inside as he arrived. "Eric," Gabriella said smiling, "did you receive the co-ordinates?" Coordinates? Rael wondered before realising the cargo bay door was open. The lanscape outside looked like a rocky desert, void of any life and not somewhere you usualy found shards. On the up side that meant no spectres. Rael's AI blipped as something finished transfering; it was the set of coordinates Gabriella had been talking about. “Everybody out that's going out. The ship will be talking off in 36 hours with, or without you. Good luck, your gunna need it.” Artemus shouted over the intercom. What a great start to my day Rael thought as he looked for something to eat.
"Eric," Gabriella acknowledged, smiling, "did you receive the co-ordinates?" Eric was studying his viewscreen when Gabriella spoke to him, he almost didnt even notice. After a delay the words sunk into his head and Eric turned to see who it was, "Oh! Gabriella! Sorry I.. Uh.... It's nice to see you!" Eric stumbled over his words, nearly forgetting the reason they were speaking. "Yes! Yes. I got the coordinates, thanks to you!" Eric was speaking belligerently, he didn't know how to repay her kindness. But he better say something before she walks away from the fool of a man. "Um Gabriella.... I just wanted to say thank you. I was bloody and broken when I came into this ship, now I am whole and new upon leaving." Eric raised his hands gesturing not only to his healed limbs but also his new harness. 'That was rather clever, sir...' Einstein's voice echoed from Eric's wrist breaking the moment. Eric looked down and shook his head, when he raised his eyes again they were focused on the barren landscape before him. He left the group and stepped onto the crusty dirt of the planetoid. It was hot, hot and dry, dryer than any outer rim planet he had been on...
Teresa Averill Teresa zoomed in on the input display feed. The ship was very large compared to her own, although that wasn’t surprising since her own ship was meant to be a one-pilot shuttle. Judging by the looks, it wasn’t any sort of civilian transport or military grade cruiser either. In fact, it looked more akin to a research vessel. It was either an independent seeker ship, or a rogue ship. The latter, if true, could prove dangerous. Teresa noticed that a figure had stepped out the back of the ship. He appeared to have no visible weapons on him. Another figure emerged from behind him, this time a woman. On second glance, the man was wearing a shard harness. “They must be shard seekers,” confirmed Teresa. Again, she wondered what their intentions were in such a place. It was rare that seekers would stray this far into the outer rim. Regardless, if they were shard seekers, they were the next best thing to finding the signal source itself. They wouldn’t have come all the way out here without a good reason, and a seeker ship on the same lonesome planet that the distress signal came from couldn’t have been coincidence. Teresa manually re-activated the power protocols, and her ship quickly started booting up again. She kept it hovering a few miles in the air, ready for evasive manoeuvres in case they ended up being hostile. Then she keyed a vocal transmission in their direction. “This is Ares IX to shore party. Do you read, shore party?”
Terrance Bigalow Terrance angerly kicked a rock as far as he could. Two days. Two days he had been on the god-forsaken planet looking for some sign of civilization or a clue to David Hawkin's where abouts. Just his luck he wouldn't find anything. He had heard rumors from spacers of there being a small trading post here...but so far he hadn't seen any sign of it. He had learned from reliable sources that the planet he was on, was the last place David had been, before disappering. David had said he was going to the outer rim but Terrance didn't think he meant this far. Though it made sense. There were bound to be more shards out here than anywhere else because their were less people. Terrance turned and started heading back to his ship. Maybe he would fly over the planets surface for a bit looking for the trading post. He sighed deeply. Amazing how a person could go from being so rich he didn't know what to do with the money to so broke that he was being chased by loan sharks. Gambling was a bad habit on this part and the gamble he had made with David had been the worst one he'd ever made. David had said that he had discovered a world so rich with shards they would never have to work another day in their lives. On this promise, Terrance had given David the amount of shards he would need to make the trip. The promise of a pay day bigger than all his other paydays put together, was to good to resist. However that had been 6 months ago. Now Terrance was broke and 15,000 credits in debt to the Carnisian Pirates. He'd sold all but 2 of his shards and without more shards to sell he had quickly gone into debt. In an attempt to pay it off he had made a bet with the Carnisian Pirates and failed. Now he was running for his life. And he was determined to make David pay. One way or another. Terrance heard a ship go over his head. He looked up and panicked for a moment. Was it the Pirates? Had they found him? No...it was a seeker ship of sorts and beautiful one at that. Probably shard seekers. But all the way out here? Maybe they were the rescue team for David he had heard rumors about. If that was true they would probably be alot of help. Picking up his pace and changing directions, Terrance walked in the direction of the ship that had just landed.
“This is Ares IX to shore party. Do you read, shore party?” "Doctor, there is an incoming vessel." Aretemus, who was running a scanner on the shard still installed in the field generator, looked up toward the intercom from which the AI voice spoke. "How big is it?" "It appears to be a single occupant craft, likely a shard seeker." Artemus returned his attention to the scanner. "Its no threat, to us. I've got more important things to worry about. Let the rest of them deal with it." Outside the Albatross Terrance was making his way toward the group. As he approached the ground suddenly began to shake and six large decapods erupted from beneath the dirt blocking Terrance's path. A series of explosions followed as the creatures fired their rock shattering blasters at the man. The spray of rubble and energy flares of could be seen from the Albatross as Terrance did his best to dodge and evade the onslaught of decapods.
