Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 152 of 365. Sol standard year]
Days after of Crash landing/ 1
Escape Capsule # 205 of Spirit of Adventure cruise ship
Galactic Standard Time / 1710
As she slipped from sleep’s embrace, she blinked as she woke to darkness. Did she fall asleep in her armor again? She was command rank, this was something only enlisted on their first deployment did. She hoped that she was at least in her personal chambers. It took her moments to realize wherever she was, something was keeping her from moving. As tried to look around, all she saw was darkness. She almost started to panic before she realized that her mask turned off. With a small silver of ether sent to her mask, it was activated, and then she looked out at a chamber bathed in crimson.
“Warning, impact immanent!”
The words in Galactic Standard caused woke her up fully, she remembered everything from the last week. She was in an escape capsule, the one was off their room aboard the Federation’s Vacation Ship? She tried to move again and realized that a harness was holding her to a seat. As her armor's systems wake up, including her comms. A com-system that only sent a solid loud beep, so loud she winced before she turned it off.
“[What?”]
“[Where are we?!]
“Warning, impact immanent!”
“[STAY CALM! WE WILL SURVIVE!]” She bellowed out in their language and the others all let their training take hold. For the next few moments, they all stayed silent before they experienced the escape capsule crashing into wherever they were.
“CAPSUl secure. SensorS detect optimum atmosphere for all ocCUPANts of Escape capsulE. No com wave transmissions detected.”
“[What happened],” A voice asked from her left and she knew she had to take command before panic took hold of her people.
“[ALL FORCES SOUND OFF NOW! So orders Commander Je’ndra Xond Azorinic!],” She barked, hoping that their training would take over.
“[COMMADNER! 1st Weaponry Officer Ken’tricx Xond Ulyrnic reporting!”] Je’ndra sighed. Ken’tricx was one of the best snipers in the force. With him watching their backs, they would be okay if they found a place to defend.
“[Medic Tar’lroia Xul Drafrla reporting]”, Tar’lroia’s voice sounded calm, the same way if she had just woken up.
Je’ndra felt a grin forming and she felt a spark of hope. Tar’lroia was the primary medic, and she was the squad's interrogation specialist. With her here, she would help keep the others in line.
“[Wayfinder Ro’borlar Xul Swfudr reporting!]” Ro’borlar calm voice raised her spirits. He was one of the best Wayfinder in the army. If there was any way at all to get back home he would find it before too long. And his aether skills let him find out what was safe to eat, so having him along was always good.
“[Olv’xic reporting boss lady!],” A cheerful voice said called. Je’ndra just smiled, glad that he was here.
Olv’xic was a mystery, just sunning his first name and content to be a simple soldier. Je’ndra didn’t know what to think of him. Most of their people were all about making new glory for their clans, to rise in the hierarchy. People who only used their first names, they were few. She had only heard of maybe five of them in her lifetime.
“[Guard Kon’gric reporting! Our Prince is safe! But he’s not awake!]” Guard Kon’gric’s voice sounded panicked and that was bad. He was leader of the prince’s guard, and while he was under her command his duty to the royal family was his primary concern.
She frowned, something was wrong, where were the others? After waiting in silence, everyone able looked around the chamber, each of them trying to find the voices that hadn’t been raised.
“[Wait, where are the others!?]” Ken’xtra’s voice asked in shock.
They all looked around the cabin. Je’ndra’s heart sank. Where was the rest of her team!? She willed her armor to ping any allied forces nearby, but nothing came up. The lesser systems in their armor only worked for ten miles, if they were farther out!
She willed her radio to go to ‘listen only’ mode. She knew there was only one way to find her missing team. As she chanted a song to steel herself as she called upon her aether abilities, trying to find the presence of her team. But all she felt was something else, something that made her eyes fly open in shock.
If she felt what she thought she did, then they were in more trouble than she thought. She needed to move and get ahead of this. With single thought she turned her radio to broadcast mode, sending her voice into the empty chamber.
“[All team, equipment check now! Find what we have to work with!]” Je’ndra barked as she pushed the chair lock bar off her armor. As she got up and looked around she watched as her team summon and de-summon their weapons before they checked their armor. Their aether ‘bags’ were still working, so that was good.
Like all their people did when they left their world, they all had on form covering armor. All were a jade green color, but each was different. This was done partially by choice and because it was tradition, but it allowed a leader to know who had what skills. She had to admit from the old stories she heard, this practice had worked against them during the wars with the Federation, but that was life.
Her armor was the basic commander model with her preferred modifications. A non-gendered slender-looking armor that hides all tells of her gender within. Her mask had two curved horns going over the top starting above where her eyebrows were. Her shoulders had two white gemstones in front and behind in the center, each one an aether battery. Her arms had two serrated lines down the middle that ended at the waist. She could send an aether charge to them, creating an aether blade that went over her hands, weapons she used if she had no choice. Her leg armor was slime and the only gemstones were a single black hexagon gem on the outside of her ankles. These were special rewards she had gained for killing the leader of a rebel group. They allowed her to teleport in a line when she was moving, but only within a line of twenty feet. Her weapons of choice were two straight double-edged swords that she used for devastating effect.
Tar’lroia was the team medic and wore basic armor. Like her own armor, Tar’lroia’s was non-gendered and slender, but her helmet didn’t have horns. Instead, it had four eyes in a line above where her own. They allowed her to scan a patient and see the internal wounds, an upgrade that had saved lives. Her arms didn’t have the blades Je’ndra’s had, instead there were two green spherical gems on the front of her hands. These allowed her to generate a healing pulse, something that could heal a small amount of damage and cure any aether aliments. Tar’lroia had two glaives, weapons that she used as a master of the ‘Blade Dancer’ style.
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Ken’tricx’s armor wasn’t like Tar’lroia or Je’ndra’s. His was bulky with large legs and arms, all of it so he could handle the weight of the heavy weapons he kept in his ‘aether bags’. His helmet had a large eye with four smaller ones in a box pattern around it. The center eye let him see up to a mile away, while the other four showed him what was right in front of him. On his shoulders were two red square gemstones that generated a small force screen in front of him, and his boots had gemstones that held a jump ability. His holdout weapon of choice was a large axe that he was a demon with.
Ro’borlar was a pathfinder, and they favored the slender armor she did. His armor was basic except for his helmet, it had three eyes in the front in a line and a horn sticking straight up. His palms and feet had two black circular gemstones set in them, they allowed him to climb up anything by feeding them aether. His of choice were two sickles for close range and a sniper rifle that his aether skills let him use in devastating effect.
Olv’xic was the simplest of the group. His armor was a slender basic model that he had modified. His hands each had a red sphere on the back of his hand that increased his strength. His mask had three eyes in a triangle formation, with the top eye being pure blue instead of the basic black. The top eye was for the drones he carried in his bag. Last she had checked, he had five different classes of them that he used to deadly effect. They took up most of the space in his bag, but his versatility made up for it. He liked to stay away from the front line, using an aether bow to rain death at his enemies from the midrange.
She looked towards Guard Kon’gric, who activated the two shield gauntlets built into his armor and Je’ndra smiled. His was a variant of Ken’tricx’s, which traded offense power for defensive might like the shields. From what she had seen, his tactics all revolved around being an immovable object and letting his team take out the threats. When she saw him go through the basic before they shipped out, he used dual hammers to handle close-in foes.
She kept silent as her gaze went to the prince. His was a basic civilian model with modifications for data carrying. Their cover was that they were protecting a document to be shown to the
Federation Council. In reality, they were to protect the prince as he made the final choice about the alliance. He had spent the voyage studying the Federation, he said that he was impressed with how similar they were to each other. She had her armor scan his and she sighed as she tapped into his vitals. He was still asleep but he was unharmed, that was good. She saw a one-way com request from Ro’borlar and acknowledged it, his icon appearing on the lower right of her vision.
“[Boss-Lady, what happened? I can’t think of anything for the last…..five hours. I’ve lost five hours, that’s never happened before]”, Ro’borlar’s voice had a hint of worry in it. Je’ndra checked her own internal time and saw he was right. If she was shocked by that discovery, then she could only worry about how Ro’borlar was treating this.
“[I don’t know]”, Je’ndra admitted in defeat, trying to keep her nerves calm. They were both people who had pride in their sense of self, to lose time like that was a blow against their core values. “[I’ll ask the team about this. And you, go guard the airlock. If something so much as touches that door I want you ready to turn it to ash.]”
Je’ndra watched as Ro’borlar’s icon vanished as she saw him follow her orders. “[Computer; message to team members only. Does anyone have memories of the last few hours?]”
She waited for a reply, but all she got was silence as their icons appeared on her mask screen. It seems whatever happened, everyone had been affected.
Je’ndra looked away and tried to keep calm. She was one who always tried to keep her calm but her sense of time was something that she thought would never fail her. So all she had to protect the Prince was one of his guards and half team. Add in the fact that they had no idea where they were, but at least she had their mechanic and main medic with them.
“[Olv’xic, look at the tech, see if we can breathe outside. The rest you see what we can salvage. Kon’gric stay close to the Prince]”, Je’ndra barked and then she moved towards Tar’lroia.
Tar’lroia was fighting a killer headache and summoned her weapon, her glaives. She was the medic so her place was behind the lines. So she used her weapon’s bow form to hit from range and the swords to fight in close if she had to. She let her aether flow through her blade for a blade, smiling as she felt the echo from it. She sighed as she went into her memories. Some of her best memories were training with her uncle to master these weapons. She had trained so hard, and she hoped it was time well spent.
Je’ndra walked until she was next to her and touched her shoulder, sending her words to her friend’s mind. Don’t react sister, but call upon your abilities. Send out a tether and follow the aether back to whatever it finds now. Je’ndra locked her armors eyes to that of her friend’s and Tar’lroia only looked back.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, only for them to snap open in moments. She looked at Je’ndra who only shook her head.
Tar’lroia could only gaze at her friend for a few moments before she realized just why they should keep silent, they had nothing. They needed to know more before they could say anything, she didn’t like it but she understood. “[Before we leave at least].”
Je’ndra kept silent but nodded before she moved towards the wall, starting to check her equipment. After bringing out her sword and shield, she looked up as she heard a spark of electricity and saw Olv’xic wince and curse. He had summoned his toolkit and was currently trying to interface with a wire behind a piece of the wall he had removed.
Olv’xic scowled as he looked over the low-tech of the Federation-made escape capsule. He had not expected a life like this when he had joined up. With his position in the social hierarchy of his world, the most he expected was to be a garbage collector. Now he was one of the guards for the Prince expected to be a lowly repair tech for his service, but then his skills had to get him recruited for Special Services, and he had to be good at it. Still, at least he’ll have been able to say to his clan at Journy’s End he did his duty at least.
He looked at the readings he was getting and sighed as he looked up at his commander as she came closer.
Without a word, Olv’xic sent what he had learned from the computer to her, waiting for a reply.
<>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>
Je’ndra sighed and looked around as her team continued to get ready for anything that might happen. A moment later they
She nodded and sighed, she would have to bring up what she and Tar’lroia found sooner than she would like.
“[MY PRINCE]!” A voice from the guard caused everyone to turn. Their prince, the young lord Ar’thor Zan’g Sp’rt’thos was awake.
“[What happened? Where are we?]”, Ar’thor asked and Je’ndra felt a flash of fear
“[My prince, there are five of us here. I…… have nothing else to report],” Je’ndra said as she bowed to her liege lord.
“[Where are the others?]”, Ar’thor asked and Je’ndra looked at his armor’s mask for a few moments. She saw the icon of Tar’lroia and knew her friend was ready to make her report. Sending a wait sign with the hand her prince didn't see, she saw the icon stop flashing.
“[I don’t know my prince. I have no memory for hours. And none of us know how we got into this chamber,]” Je’ndra admitted and she felt more than they all saw the prince’s body go stiff in shock.
“[We’ve got food at least my lord. Federation make but good stuff, and the supplies we brought with us],” Kon’gric said and Je’ndra just rolled her eyes.
“[Are we in vacuum?],” Ar’thor asked and Je’ndra shook her head.
“[No my prince. From the readings we can breathe what is out there],” Je’ndra said and Ar’thor looked in her direction. She took a deep breath and then looked over her shoulder at the rest of her team and sighed at the way their icons all twitched in her mask’s screen. “[And I was just waiting on you to wake up before checking what was outside my prince].”
<>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>
A few moments later, Je’ndra stood before the airlock and sighed. It had taken less time than she expected to prepare her incursion. Once the others had heard her statement, Tar’lroia objected but Je’ndra overruled her. She did not let others face the dangers if she could and her skills made her the perfect scout and they all knew it.
Moving through the airlock, Je’ndra was shocked by how dark and quiet it was. Looking around she activated her mask’s vision enhancement and looked upwards. She saw a rock ceiling a good fifty feet up with a hole that light was shining through and she smiled as she held back a light chuckle.
They had crashed into a cavern, good. They could set up defenses here or farther back, and make killing zones if anything came at them from the cave’s mouth.
As she was making plans she heard a chittering from her right. She turned and looked up, stopping as she spied and saw a horror looking back. Fifteen feet up on the crater wall was a giant black insect. It had four compound eyes around a circular maw with four curved horns between the eyes. It had a body made up of only two sections, the front had the ‘face’ and two three-clawed hands, and the back had four spike legs. It looked at her and a drop of saliva dripped from its mandibles as Je’ndra summoned her blades.
“[Strike leader, what’s wrong?!]” Kon’gric called out from behind her, Je’ndra saw the insect tense and cursed in her mind. The insect screeched and to Je’ndra’s horror, more screeches echoed from above.
“[Close the airlock!]” She called out as the insect dropped from the wall. As soon as it landed it spat a glob of a white liquid that Je’ndra dodged to the right. She heard it hit the capsule looked and saw the liquid sizzle as it started to burn.
Je’ndra shot forward, dodging the blobs the insect spat at her until she reached it. Before it could react she had sliced in through its head. She jumped backwards before a splatter of blood sprayed from the slice she had made. As she looked at her blades she saw the black blood there, and for a second thought, she saw something glitter in it. She hoped that it was a trick of the light as she flicked her blades, getting rid of the blood. The insect took a step it then crashed to the floor and she smirked at this.
But before she could say anything, she heard something that made her go still and feel terror. Above them were the sounds of many things chittering at them. From how loud the bug she just killed, there were at least ten more of them. A hard number, but if her team went to war against these bugs, the bugs would soon die.
“[Strike leader, what’s wrong?!]” Kon’gric called up and when Je’ndra didn’t reply the others all started to prepare to call their weapons.
“[Just a bug and some friends. Let me check on how many there really are],” Je’ndra said over the radio as she gathered her aether. With a small pulse of aether, she jumped upwards, a smirk on her face that died as soon as she saw what was really above them.