G799 was about 3 miles into his evening 10 mile run in the ship’s gymnasium when the 1mc clicked three times signaling for everyone to stop what they are doing. He slowed down and stood waiting for what the captain had to say, such announcements where rare but not unheard of.
“Alright Astraios, as of 1600 yesterday we have some new orders that I know we have all been waiting for.” G799 felt his heart rate spike a little at that proclamation. “We got the go ahead from the Hegemony to utilize the Janus drive and scout universe 016 for potential colonization and reclamation efforts. As this is literally what we were born to do I expect nothing but 200% from all of you in this mission.”
“To celebrate what will be the last day in U001 for the for seeable future I am authorizing the mess hall to open one of the caskets of beer. Each crew member will be authorized 1 glass during your off-going watch only.”
G799 could hear some cheers at that last statement as the captain paused.
“Within 8 hours we will be reaching the designated coordinates for the jump. As such; all out-going coms will be disabled until we have made our way back from this mission.” A longer pause this time. G799 started to wonder if that was the end of the announcement and started to make his way to the showers but stopped as the captains voice once more came over the MC.
“In the orders from the Hegemony where some specifics about U016. In it was a note that I may share this with my crew if I so chose. I am making that choice now as I feel that you all should have all the information that I can give you to have the highest chance of mission success.”
“We will be the second ship sent to U016. The first was the _____ a year ago and she has yet to return. The scientist class assure us that U016 should be able to support our life with laws similar if not exactly as our own. However. The war with the Dwemer is not going as great as the official news would have it seem. Both in U015 and U014 they seem to have arrived before us and made alliances with the natives. The Hegemony is hoping to jump ahead of their exploration.”
“As such the Hegemony has decided that for U016 we will be exploring a universe that is more…above us then next to our own. The Scientists on board are probably having a stroke over that explanation but it is not most of you all’s job to understand inter dimensional travel so ultimately it doesn’t really matter.
What does matter is that we are told to expect things to be even more different from our own universe then even the others that we have reclaimed. In what way this will manifest we do not know. But I trust that the training our Hegemon has given us will be enough to see us through. With that said, off-going watch enjoy your beer, C000 out.” With that final comment the double click indicating the end to the announcement sounded and G799 once again started to make his way to the showers while in deep thought.
This could be his chance. A Universe that was different enough that the captain took it upon himself to inform them could mean opportunities to separate himself from the rest of the crew. To increase his rank from the bottom at 799 and maybe even change his designation from grunt. Sure, he was ranked worst at physical combat, information retention, and basically everything else compared to the rest of the crew.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
But the one thing he excelled at was his intuition. To bad the Hegemony does not have a way to rank such abilities and chooses to give demerits when grunts in training tell them “It felt right” when asked to explain why they did something. He learned that even if the Hegemony does not accept it as a reasonable action, it was worth listening to. After all. While he may be ranked 799 and thus the lowest on board, he was here. That already makes him better than 80% of his brothers and sisters who did not survive training to graduate. And what better way to utilize his intuition to make himself look better then in a strange new universe that is unlike any they have seen before.
With thoughts of one day being C000 and leading his own ship into battle against the strange brass ships crewed by the Dwemer G799 skipped dinner, and his beer, and went to his rack to sleep. After all, what better way to speed up time to the Janus skip then sleeping the hours away until he had to retake the watch.
4 hours later G799 woke to his first wake up call. Groggily he wiped the sleep from his eyes as he rolled out of his rack and walked into the showers. He blearily washed himself before a shock went through his mind as he recalled the news that C000 gave out the previous day. In somewhere around 4 hours they were to be making a Janus jump to U016, and hopefully reclaim the whole universe for the Hegemony before the Dwemer showed up. G799 finished his morning rituals and hurriedly got dressed in his coveralls so that he could relieve the current FireControlCoordinator. As he stepped onto the bridge G799 broke out into a light sweat. He could feel the combination of tension and excitement that seeped into the atmosphere of the bridge.
G799 made his way over to his station and did the pre watch checks with the now off-going FCC watch stander, G201. The FCC was a pretty prestigious watch station, as where most of the bridge watches. It was odd for someone with such a high ranking to be seen on the command deck, more or less in control itself standing watch, but considering that C000 was from the same training group as G799 it was put up to the whims of a captain who earned the right to do what he wanted. The reality was that the FCC watch station was designed to help go through the massive amounts of data that the ship received and submit to the FireControl watch any deemed relevant for obtaining target locks. The sheer amount of data typically needed someone who scored high in memory retention and pattern reconization, but C000 knew that while G799 scored low in those fields he somehow was always able to make correct assumptions with little to no actual knowledge.
3 Hours later C000 hit a button on his command chair making three clicks once more sound out over the 1MC and causing the crew to pause in their non-essential tasks as they waited for the captains message.
“All right Astraios, here in 30 minutes we will be activating the Janus Drive. I want all Oncoming watch standers to make their way to their DC stations and all OffGoing watch standers to head to their combat stations. While I don’t expect to immediately come under fire, I DO expect everyone to be prepared for such an event. We are the Astraios of the Hegemony and we will reclaim U016 for the Hegemon. This will happen of course, but we will be the spearhead of that. Rejoice and feel pride in that.” G799 could taste the anticipation of the crew as pride weld up in their chests. To be the first, to lead the reclamation of a whole universe into the whole of the Hegemony was something that they were literally born for. Who could ask for more then to fulfill the meaning of their life. Two clicks once more sounded the end of the 1MC.
C000 sat in the command chair of the Astraios, looking ever the part of the calm and collected captain. Inside he felt his heart beat just as hard as every other member of his crew though. The idea of moving between universes, with different laws and rules, was terrifying. But it was also exiting. He didn’t know exactly how the technology worked, that was the domain of the Science cast. He was of the command cast, and part of that was trusting in his crew.
C001, his second in command gave him a nod signaling that all crew where in their stations.
C000 let out a breath as he sent a command for S019 to start charging the Janus drive down in engineering. The ship shuddered as a hole in space opened in front of the nose of the Astraios. The view screen didn’t show anything but normal stars, but the other more refined instruments stopped receiving anything from the direction of the hole.
C000 turned to his second one more time and gave the order for them to enter the hole in reality.