The dark void of space was as unforgiving as the sea, a three dimensional one.
Many ships designed for it had been lost to the unforgiving shadows and violent clutches……..
One such vessel long thought lost to the void was an experimental vessel, known only as Event Horizon.
The ship was long, a flat disk on one end, with a bubble shaped area for its bridge on one side of the disk, with four impulse nacelles, two on top, two on the bottom, with groves beneath them to allow them to retract, as they currently were, flush against the disk as they could be. On the underside of the disk was a strange shutter ring around the edge, surrounding the two bottom nacelles, and four ADS( automated/asteroid defense system)hard points.
On top was four more ADS the disk was four more hard points, all shaped like bubbles, with the barrels retracted. On either side of the bridge were fairly sizable hatches that were visibly marked, intakes of some kind or another.
Connecting the disk to the rest of the long vessel was a airlock, and attachment points that overlapped onto the disk, between the nacelles, providing a secure attachment point. From there, the ship was long and thin, with several cylinders attached along the hull. They looked odd, almost slapped on after the fact, airlock visible, separating the ship into four quadrants, the cylinders symmetrically attached to balance weight.
One of the cylinders underneath had an odd dish that appeared to be on a rotatable mount, while one at the top appeared to have some kind of hanger that was sealed.
At the rear of the vessel however, was the engine cluster.
Three splines extended out to a large ring system, and just inside the large ring, attached to where the splines attached to the ring, were Impulse engines, large enough to push the ship around at a decent speed while in system. The upper impulse engine had a secondary bridge attached to it as well, darkened like the primary bridge.
The ring itself had similar shutters like those on the underside of the disk, and were similarly closed…..but if one floated close, even powered down as they were, one could almost feel a humming, shuddering coming from them, not through airwaves, but through one's very being.
The vessel was old, mechanical in some ways, almost 70s, 80s style technology. Screens made with Cathode ray tubes sat dark, industrial, four legged cargo robots sat dark, waiting in their charging scaffolds while smaller, six legged drones sat in their own scaffolds in the ceiling and floor, twin barrels sticking out under darkened sensor bars.
In the hanger at the top sat a beaten up, old skiff that had seen better days, two delta type wings with impulse engines mounted close to the body, with a small atmospheric maneuvering fin at the top near the back. On the front were two small turret bubbles, and one more in the back. Clearly, this skiff was not the intended shuttle for the craft, being far too small, but it sufficed.
The aging vessel slowly passed through a nebulous cloud of some form, lightning jumping from the charged cloud to the ship, triggering a long overdue boot up sequence.
The central computer, a large, spherical series of machines, one placed in the center section, one in the auxillary bridge, and the last placed in the disk section of the ship lit up, lights flickering as processes zipped through the triad of paired positronic brains, all linked as one, not needing a dish between them to be able to operate or signal one another, even as the Event Horizon woke up……..
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System rebooted complete.
System memory intact
System ram intact
Running shipframe diagnostic.
Power generators online
Warning, dilithium stores low
ADS online
Impulse Engines on Primary cluster operational
Impulse Engines on Disk section operational
Vohle ring on Primary cluster operational
Vohle ring on Disk section operational
Navigational sensors operational
Salvage systems operating on reduced capacity
Primary bridge operational
Secondary bridge operational
Life support on low power mode
Aquaponics thawing out
Transmat offline due to low power mode
Cloning chambers online
Medical bay online
Warning! Biomass stores critical
Assessing conditions for crew construction…….
Construction….. limited. Allocating majority of biomass stores for food plant cloning and nutrient brick production.
Assessment complete. Full crew CANNOT be constructed. Assessing possible Skeleton crew….. one member required.
Allocating biomass. Warning! Full biomass required exceeds remaining balance for food production.
Assesing….. solution found.
Commencing appropriation of required hardware.
Required resources:
1 EVA life support system
1 spare bipedal Astro Robot body
2 high dextarity manipulator arms.
25% of standard biomass for 1 crewman
Beginning modification of Astro Robot
Beginning creation of Crewman
Crewman designation:
Captain ARC-CC-217 (ERROR! ERRO- My Ćĥíľð'§ ñæmə íß) Asimov
Astro-Robot-Cyborg/Clone-Captain/217
Warning! Psyonic uptick detected outside of norm.
Reassessing. Astrogator classification added.
Adding data modules for wetware upload applicable for
Captaincy
Astronavigation
Maintenance of (ship)(mechanoids)
Research
Preliminary combat due to abnormal body type
Preparing encapsulation chamber and transference to Astro Robot frame………
Processing…… process-(ERROR! ERROR! ERR- Wèĺčœmē tø ťĥîś ẅõřłḍ, mƴ ĺïṭțľə œņē)
---------------------------------
The cloning chamber lit up, one of the smaller tanks filling with a clear fluid, a glowing white ring passing up and down the tank as it was fed a green gel, slowly creating what appeared to be a human brain, attached to a small stomach, heart, lungs, kidney, liver and pancreas. Intestines formed as well, all tightly clumped underneath the brain in a way they still operated, but was as compact as possible, held together with fleshy membranes, in a spherical shape.
Mechanical arms carefully dipped into the fluid, installing microscopic cables within the neural flesh, added vacuum tubes and crystals to other areas and a Neural connection port near the brain stem area. In-between the lobes, was nestled a Positronic brain module, wired in to the rest of the organic brain and straight to the neural connector.
Other arms began installing a chute system to the stomach, connecting it to a food intake to be connected to a feed system or food preprocessor, before the tube was lead to part of the capsule the mass of organs would be sealed in. The intestines were attached to a output chute, not to a waste bag, but to a bioreactor fuel tank.
The lungs were attached to a oxygen rebreather system, designed and intended to minimize the already minimal oxygen needed by the cloned organs. Arteries and veins were carefully pierced and had sensors installed, ready to keep an eye on blood pressure, tempature, oxygen levels, connectors already being wired in, ready to synchronize with life support systems. Valves installed on the heart were connected to via a umbilical tube, pumping in a silvery, nanomachine blood, suspended in plasma.
Mechanical lymph nodes were installed, loaded with a combination of whiteboard cells and mechanized versions, ready to help defend and maintain the cybernetic clones vitals. Within the lymph nodes were stores of biomass and raw materials to repair and maintain the biological and mechanical parts, receiving docks added for the mechanical blood cells to drop off precious metals and biomass collected from the stomach/intestines during the digestion process. Additional nodes were added, part organic bone marrow, part nanofabricators, in replacement of normal organics bones and bone marrow to make new blood, as well as plasma. Heat sinks were added, allowing the blood to help regulate temperature if and when needed, ready to be attached to heat transfer pipes on the capsule it would be placed in.
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Careful electrical shocks were administered, jump starting the heart, starting the pulse of carefully cultivated and constructed blood through the newly minted cardiovascular system, even as the umbilical sealed up for fluids to be added in. A cable hooked into the Neural port on the brain stem, and the flash learning process began, data carefully uploaded into the freshly activated brain, the wires lighting up as the now silvery grey matter learned…..
Around the organs, the capsule began sealing up, valves and vents on the capsule allowing the pressure to carefully equalize, ports affixed for their respective intakes, exhausts, even as the brain still processed the data pumped into it, the neural connector disconnected from the ship, as the top half of the capsule sealed around it, it's data port jacked into the neural port.
The organs, now buffered, secured inside their capsule, was kept hooked up to a life support umbilical, even as it was lifted out of the growth solution. Life Support systems were attached to the outside of the capsule, such as a rebreather system for hostile environments, and an oxygen filter to pull oxygen out of the air when not. Computers ran along the back, with connector ports to hook into the new body, accompanied by emergency batteries, deep cycle ones, meant to keep the vitals alive should the primary power system fail.
A bioreactor was connected at the bottom of the pod, connected to the waste chute. It wasn't meant for much more then helping deal with the waste material and reducing strain on the power system, as well as the power supply for the emergency life support system. It could not power the main body at all.
Heat transfer systems were hooked into the heat sinks on the capsule, even as the umbilical began charging the emergency batteries. Slowly, carefully, the capsule was lowered into the chest cavity of a heavily modified, bipedal robot. Once inside, the capsule was secured, and then connected to the body, sensor inputs hooked in, neural controls synchronized and fastened in, primary power was hooked in with an emergency bypass and a breaker switch.
Slowly, the bodies reactor powered on, as the umbilical detached and fell away, retracting, even as the feed line was hooked up to a food preprocessor, and the O2 lines were hooked up to a filter/valve system, already softly drawing in air. Slowly, the cavity was sealed up, plates sealed up to protect against harsh environments and damadge.
Around the cradel, life support systems went green, even as a mechanized arm began stenciling the designation ARC-CC-217 onto its pectoral, with the word Asimov underneath it.
Slowly, a triad of sensors lit up, one large optic, and two smaller sensors above it on the right and left of the main, central sensor lit up. A long, bending like a elephants trunk, prehensile and segmented, mechanical limb lifted up, and grabbed onto the edge of the cradle with a four clawed hand/manipulator, even as the hiss of pneumatics was heard as the scaffold opened up.
"Welcome aboard, Captain."
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Karesh was pissed. It had been 7 standard cycles since they found the unknown vessel and they couldn't make heads or tails of the Thall forsaken ship.
For all intents and purposes, it looked derelict. Looked, Until her odd impulse engines lit up and forced her away from the Seeker. Now the two vessels were staring one another down, neither wanting to make the first moves. "Science officer, what are we looking at?" Karesh said, mandibles clicking angrily. While their species could withstand most things, something about how the vessel moved unnerved them.
"Looks like some kind of modular vessel, designed to expand when and where needed. Ingenious, really, able to adapt and break off whole sections as new vessels!" The science officer said excitedly, their lights flickering happily.
Karesh shook their head at the excitable ameboid, watching as it ran scans over the strange vessel. "Captain. The ship is hailing us." Came the guttural growl of the comms officer, the shield like frills around their reptilian head making their appearance similar to their more beastial ancestors from when they left their planet in the early days. "On my console, please." Karesh said, antenna flicking nervously. The comms officer snorted, muttering under their breath about skittish crunchies.
When the Cadians screen went dark, the antenna flicked again in aggravation. "Comms-"
Three lights suddenly spun into view, one large, white one and two smaller blue ones above them, staring forward in the darkness. "This is Captain Asimov of the EHS Event Horizon. Unknown vessel, please identify." Came out the voice, hissing through the console, reiterated in multiple languages before finally an understandable, though ancient, version of Basic came through. "This is Captain Karesh of colony Baris, of the Salvage vessel Seeker. Event Horizon, we stumbled across your vessel dormant in space until we came close, do you require assistance?" The Cadian said in the same language, if a bit butchered, mandibles clicking as it calmed.
"Repairs to my ship are currently underway. However, I would not mind a trade of information. Languages would likely be the best." The creature said through the Vox, the lights tilting a bit, or at least looked like they did. The lights still weren't on in the bridge the creature was speaking from, so Karesh couldn't tell.
Karesh sat there for a few moments, options running through his head….. "that sounds….agreeable. However, we cannot transmit the information over Vox, so we will require to dock with your vessel and exchange hard drives." Karesh said after a moment, catching most of the crew's attention…..they knew that was a load of slag, but didn't say anything. "........agreeable. I will set up the Horizons adaptable docking system. Lower module on the vessel, by the large dish. I will deploy it momentarily. Lights should be beyond emergency power at that point." The captain of the archaic vessel said. Karesh wiggled his antenna in anticipation. "We will be there momentarily. Seeker out." Karesh said, cutting the Vox transmission….
Before chattering with glee. "Captain, I must state for the record that I am NOT taking any part of this endeavor." The comms officer said with a frown, looking at the insectoid Captain with a look of disappointment and disdain. Karesh waved her off. "We have done this dozens of times before. Why would it change this time? So what if the sleeper on this ship is awake? It will all end the same." The cadian said, confident…… after all, if they hadn't reported the ship had life signs because the crews were asleep, they could claim the crews died in transit and claim the wealth of historical knowledge the vessel had and sell it to the highest bidder.
"Captain. Think long and hard before you continue on this path. One of these cycles, we will encounter someone who has no compunction against fighting back….and I would rather remain alive." The comms officer said with a scowl.
"As you wish. Drok? Let the ship log record Zedara's choice." He said, making a note to wipe that part later, once they hit dock.
----------------------------
Asimov stared at the opposing vessel silently, optics flickering uneasily. "......Horizon? Fabricate one handgun, 1911 DS pattern, and several rounds of standardized ammunition, along with appropriate magazines. 50 beowolf, standard chemical load for oxygenless environments. I do not think that we will be visited by a friendly force." The cyborg said as he turned around, the lighting on the ship flickering as he made his way down to the science and medical bay.
"Acknowledged, Captain. Do you expect trouble?" Came the ships feminine voice, steady and calm. "There is an old saying, hope for the best, plan for the worst, if my flash lessons are correct. I do not intend to be caught unarmed if they wish to board you." Hebsaid, one manipulator claw gently caressing the vessel's walls gently. "I will not lose you…..Mother."
The ship rumbled at that statement, even as he stepped into the science bay of the module, the medical bay still lit from his creation, currently fabricating plants for the aquaponics section, as well as fish and other needed things for aquaponics.
Nearby, a fabricator whirled, with different intent than the biofabrication chambers did………
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Karesh sat idly by the airlock door, foregoing a atmosphere suit, unlike the two sapients flanking him. The two were armed with plasma rifles, loaded and ready to punch through a sentients atmospheric suit and get to the squishy organic within. Karesh thought it was a pity, He would love to sell the suit the organic wore in mint condition……
A soft thump was heard, the soft hiss of air echoing as the pressures equalized between the two rooms. "Captain, ships are docked, but we can't find a dataport. Seems the universal adapter they use doesn't have one." One of the Salvage operators at a terminal reported over the vox. "A pity. Would be easier to just vent the atmosphere once we hacked the other ship." Karesh said, shaking his head, before they heard the telltale sounds of the airlock opening.
Almost instantly, the two flanking crewmen flicked their rifles up, and fired off two blasts each, the smell of ozone filling the air, followed by the scent of…..
Metal?
Horror mounted on the insectoids face as the three stared at what stood on the other side of the airlock door.
A domed head was tilted down, looking at the fresh carbon scoring patches that were in four different places on his armored hull, paint burned away to reveal silvery armor underneath. "Unfortunate." Came the digitized voice from the creature before them, as his head tilted up, short antenna, off set, near the back of the machine's head glinting in the light. "I had hoped that I wasn't being paranoid. Seems I was not." The creature said as one long, segmented, bending arm shot up, wielding…..
Was that a slug thrower!? An archaic weapon, massive, like some parody of a gun, resized for the tall machines height, and fitting in his grip properly, the wide barrel flicked up as the other bending arm snaked around and calmly racked a round into the chamber, the hammer drawn back, the simple, black weapon locking on-
BOOM
Whatever was in that thing caused the pressure in the room to spike as the slide on the slugger shot back, spitting out a massive brass case.
The Crewman next to him no longer had a head, body thrown ba-
BOOM
The slugger barked again, already sending the other crewmember back, blue and black blood from the two spraying the walls as a scream and a yelp was heard on the other side of the airlock behind him.
Tilting his head, he let out a screech of horror.
Two massive holes were in the airlock door behind him. The rounds overpenetrated and still went through a durasteel door!?
"I would advise that you stand down Captain. Despite ordering your men to fire on me, you have yet to attack me-" the machine was cut off as Karesh followed his instincts and spat a viscous goo at the machine, who calmly stepped back, watching in fascination as the goo ate through the floor of the Seekers airlock. "......unfortunate." The machine sighed, the strange, almost upside down egg shaped body twisting around as it tracked Kareshes panicked movements.
BOOM
The slugger barked a third time, and Karesh felt blinding pain in his abdomen region, as green ichor sprayed on the wall as he fell onto his back, twitching in pain….
And now he got a good look at his victim turned hunter.
The machine was towering, lanky, his egg shaped body elongated oddly, wider at the top and slimming down towards the bottom, split in three sections, the upper and lower sections able to spin on their own. The legs were large enough to support the machines weight and a bit thicker, but like the strange arms, segmented, bending in strange ways, like an octopi limb, feet were clawed, splayed out on the floor for stability as he moved fluidly forward.
"Interesting. Still alive, not unlike a cockroach." The machine said, bending down to examine Karesh. The insectoid attempted to cough up some more of the corrosive goo, only to hiss in pain as he felt a burning inside him.
Blue light scanned over him as the machine hummed. "Your tube from your acid gland is ruptured. You have sealed your own fate by attempting to attack me again." The machine said with all the bluntness of a deathworlder.
Straightening up, the machine sighed, before picking up Karesh's Vox unit.
"This is Captain Asimov. I would advise that the crew of this vessel stand down. As of now, you have not attacked me like your captain and two crewmates, and I will be lenient. You have time to save your Captain, and I will give you that, HOWEVER. I will be taking a copy of your star chart as well as your language drives in return. My quarrel is not with you, and your Captain has already paid for his own folly. " The machine said with a clinical detachment, optics still locked on the groaning form of the Cadian before him, massive handgun trained on the roaches head.
Karesh groaned and slumped on the ground, feeling the painful burning tearing through him. Maybe he should have listened to his comms officers warning……
"Your offer is appreciated, Captain. However, due to my now…..Ex-captains actions, I am requesting a transfer to your vessel. I have already compiled a language drive and can retrieve a Star chart." Came the voice of his own comms officer! With a chattering hiss, he leaned up, and snarled, before trying to crawl forward, only to feel a clawed foot on his back. "Movements are not advised. You will only aggravate your injuries farther." The machine said, before they heard soft clicking sounds.
Glancing up, he let loose a muted shriek of terror as two spiderlike machines skittered out of the shadows, the drones taking aim at him with their barrels, visors going from standby yellow to on guard orange, their barrels locked on his downed form.
Removing his foot from the back of the cadian, the larger machine moved to pick up the casings from his rounds, the acrid scent of the propellant still hanging heavily in the room.
And before he could cough out a word, the door hissed open, revealing Zedaras form, wearing a atmospheric suit, minus the helmet, her personal storage case under one of her arms, even as she blinked, looking around at the biohazard coveted walls and the three machines before her.
".....I warned the foolish crunchy, and he never listened." She sighed, shaking her head as she walked past and stood before the machine…..
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Zedara stared up at the mechanoid before her.
It was like staring at something out of a history novel, a Human one. The machine looked like a old MK12 Astro Robot…..actually…..
Now that she looked, she frowned, glancing at the drones aimed at her ex Captain, laying on the floor, coughing and hissing. Those were old MK1 defense drones…… the Good stuff, easily enough that…….. wait……
She hissed a few muttered Saurian Trike curses under her breath. "Karesh, you fool! You had to kark off a Deathworlder android?!" She hissed at her ex Captain, staring at her new one, a sinking feeling in her gut as she watched it holster its massive slugger. Likely using a chemical that could….
Wait…that scent……was it using solid rocket propellant for its bullets!?
"Cyborg." She froze, both her and Karesh's heads turning to the andr-Cyborg.
"Cyborg……?" She said, as she felt a sinking feeling in her gut, as she realized they were looking at a Deathworlder in a body that was rated for deep space exploration in some of the harshest environments……
"Of course. The Event Horizon did not have enough biomass on board to fabricate the rest of my body, so to save on biomass, a spare Astro Robot frame was used." He said simply, as if talking about the weather.
As if he wasn't a walking death machine. Well. More so then he already was.
"Karesh……. You pissed off an old Cloner ship. This could have been much, much worse." Zedara said weakly. Her species may have originated from the same world as humans, but they were so far removed it didn't matter. Humans were a whole nother level of insane……
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She hadn't expected the warm welcome she got once she was brought aboard the ancient vessel. It was a stark contrast to her previous posting. Rather then sleek, if beaten up consoles and computers, she saw archaic, mechanical machines around her. The Vox unit she sat before was a historical piece in and of itself, and a pain to learn how to use.
It didn't help that she felt like she was being watched at every moment, but then again, it was a deathworlder ship. An old one.
She sighed, and laid her head on the console, careful not to push any of the buttons, even as she heard the hissing and clanking of her Captain as he entered the room.
"Your files have been checked and cleared. Horizon is installing them now." The cyborg said, taking his seat at the Captains chair calmly, even as they watched the Seeker flit away, in a panicked hurry, which, really, they were.
Wouldn't help Karesh much, now that he had the stain of attempting to kill the crew of another vessel, unprovoked. Records were already sent out to the nearest relay, and would be in the nearest Warfmasters office within the hour.
"Now then, you said humans managed to make it all the way out here?" She heard, and pulled herself up, nervous.
Now that she had a proper chance, she recognized more of the tech, if only from history books of humanities exploration…..pictures, anyways, never could find technical documents.
"Yes, they settled in the Theta quadrant….. why do you ask?" She said carefully……both a sinking feeling and adrenaline coursing through her telling her what he wanted. "Well, I suppose it's time for us to rejoin the galactic stage at large. I'm curious to the advancements to humanity, and to see if Horizon and I can integrate it any into her. Our directive was to explore….and that's what we intend to do." He said, looking at her full on.
".............I'm going to regret this but……." She said, holding out a large hand to the machine, feeling like she was making a deal with a devil. "I wish to stay on for the long haul." The laughter, dual toned, spoke for itself, as she felt his claws wrap around her hands….and felt the gentle brush of cables against her tail, and the possessive, whispered ŐÙŔ§ hiss through the back of her head…….