The warp engine is fully spooled up and the crew aboard the fully automated exploration and science vessel are all eager in anticipation of what will happen next. In the room containing the stasis pods for the commanders are two people about to enter their pods. One man and a woman wearing jumpsuits. But they both hesitate and look at each other with serious expressions all over their faces.
”Commander Gavin, may I have a word with you?” Says the woman as she leans over her pod and her long ginger hair partially obscures her face as it falls down her shoulder.
Gavin stops for a few seconds before looking back at the woman over his shoulder. He sighs and then nods toward her.
”Thanks. This mission… I can’t but feel uneasy about it.” Gavin looks up and bites his lower lip.
”What about the mission Sarah York?”
”The… The warp jump coordinates are completely unlike anything I has ever seen. Whoever ordered us to use them are not cautious...”
Gavin who was about to fully enter the pod then stop and faces her completely with his body.
”Sarah, remember that we execute orders, not question them. Even if we think they are wrong. We must still follow them.”
”But… What if-”
”We die? It is part of what we signed up for. Now stop hesitating and enter your stasis pod.”
Sarah looks defeated because she can’t argue against her superior. It is true that the contract she signed up for permitted the agency she worked for to send her to potentially deadly locations.
Gavin made sure that Sarah entered her pod first before he himself entered his pod. With the last of the organics aboard the vessel in stasis sleep so springs the artificial intelligence into action.
”Angel is online!” Echoes a cheery high pitched robotic voice across the hallways of the whole vessel. That was the artificial intelligence making its presence known.
Angel is an AI that is fully sentient like a human, but got potential to grow even more. It is offline for most of the time because it is not needed when the crew is present. The main benefit of having this AI is that it can still function during warp jumps. How you may wonder? Angel is completely shielded against the uncertainties of hyperspace. This allows for the vessel to be operated normally during the jump.
”Re-establishing connection with vessel: HMSS Heavenly Garden”
A few seconds passed in complete silence.
”Connection established!” Bursts angel out happily
”Processing queued order: Warp jump towards the Andromeda galaxy.”
Heavenly Garden now starts to vibrate subtly and as a droning sound is heard. If you could look outside the vessel, the planet Earth would look like it is contorting itself until just black remains.
”See you on the other side!” Says Angel. If it had a body you could bet it would had saluted towards you.
The first few hours of the warp jump went without any problems. Angel as the only sentient awake aboard the vessel only needed to perform minor adjustments across it. The stasis pods for the crew in the habitation module were optimally provided power, the science module still had its experiments and research intact, the military module was filled to the brim with vehicles and combat robots, the factory module is fully equipped to the point where it can create plastics out of space dust. Safe to say that there was nothing to worry about.
Then disaster struck. Just an hour before arriving at the Andromeda galaxy.
”Alert alert: Hyperspace anomaly detected!” Cried Angel out as it tried to fix the situation.
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A distorted roaring and laughing sound reverberated across the vessel. Then suddenly could the sound of metal being bashed be heard from every direction. The shields has proven useless towards this new threat.
”Activating security systems!” Without any reliable information from the data banks so activated Angel the security across the vessel.
All across HMSS Heavenly Garden popped turrets out of the walls, ceilings and floors. Then from closets streamed both humanoid robots and robots on wheels out. The whole vessel was now in red alert mode.
Minutes later was a mocking laugh heard which was followed with the ripping of metal in the military module.
”Alert alert: Military module is losing structural integrity! 70% calculated integrity before module is forced to be ejected!” As loyal as ever is Angel reporting to her now resting humans. Too bad they can’t hear it, otherwise they might have made up a better plan now.
For the next hour was the military module being ripped to shreds meanwhile the security never could find the culprit. The only thing remaining of the module now was a Ion cannon which is fixed downwards. It was the last project completed by the scientists and engineers aboard here.
”Alert alert: Military module has no integrity left! Ejecting!” Without fanfare was the shredded metal skeleton remains ejected off into hyperspace to never be seen again. The aggressor seemed to be pleased with the result and then started doing the same with the crew and science modules.
Safe to say is that the modules did not survive. Everywhere in this hyperspace bubble could shredded remains of humans and metal be seen floating around. A scene right out of a horror movie. The only humans left alive now are the dozen people near the AI core.
”Alert alert: Emergency exit of jump initiated! Jumping to closest star!” Cried Angel out in panic. The sentient instinct of self preservation kicked in now.
As Angel frantically looked for a nearby star, did the cruel alien laughter intensify across the whole vessel. Just as the AI core room was about to hit by the unknown entity did the bubble collapse.
With the sudden exit out of the warp were all the metal and gore flung towards a nearby Earth-like planet which HMSS Heavenly Garden appeared next to.
All across the vessel rang sirens meanwhile red lights shone as oxygen leaked out of the damaged hull.
”Emergency ejection of command crew initiated!” Said Angel as the whole command section detached and made its way planetside. The AI never had the chance to say goodbye which made it sad.
What used to look like a proper spaceship is now more akin to a enormous skeletal hull of steel and plasteel alloy mesh. Because of the destruction caused by the jump it is now unable to sustain organic life until it's repaired. The warp drive is now in tatters after the forced early exit and it lacks fuel for any further jumps.
”HMSS Heavenly Garden situation report.
Crew module: Destroyed.
Military module: Destroyed.
Science module: Destroyed.
Factory module: Functional at 50% integrity.
Command section: Jettisoned and safely made it down planetside.
AI Core: Fully operational.
Generators: Fully operational.
Warp drive: Damaged, but requires repairs and fuel.
Thrusters: Destroyed.
Drone bay: Fully operational.
Drop pod bay: Fully operational.
Security bays: Fully operational in remaining sections.
...” And Angel kept ranting like this for a long time while assessing the situation. To be honest, it looked grim. What was once a ship is now a glorified satellite with only its maneuver thrusters intact to prevent it from de-orbiting.
The mission that was to travel to Andromeda and look for more planets to colonize is a complete failure. But… The planet which the Heavenly Garden is orbiting now looks green from orbit and got a oxygen rich atmosphere… So maybe it is not a complete failure after all.
”After completed situation analysis: Mission objectives has been overridden.
Initiating survival protocols for remaining crew…
Initiating self repair protocols for AI core…”
Codename Fantasia is situated just a few light years away from the edge of the Andromeda galaxy. If the vessel could be fully repaired within a few years the mission it was set out for could still be completed. But that is unlikely because of the extent of the damage. Because without a science module can’t working thrusters be fashioned from materials native to this region. Making a module itself without any professional help can take years on its own. It requires reinventing the wheel and working around the clock.
Realistically so is Angel and the vessel going to stay here for a very long time.
”Mission parameters allows for the creation of an AI avatar!
Drop podding down reconnaissance drones planetside…
Releasing mining drones from drone bay…
Releasing engineering drones from drone bay...”
And like that gained the planet a new star in its sky, a start of a new myth. A start of great change for this planet.