Astral Light - A Story by Anna - Prologue up!
Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:41 am
Astral Light
By Anna
Prologue
"Status Report."
"Everything's in the green, sir. The power core is running smoothly, with minimal amounts of gamma and beta waves, which the shielding is handling. The Astral Drive is charged and primed. Weapons are also primed. Y'know, in case things don't go as planned."
"Excellent. Now all we do is wait."
The hull of the SINS Experimental Destroyer Astral Light shimmered brilliantly in the light of the nearby white dwarf, its metallic hull bristling with large amounts of potent firepower. Around its cores, rows upon rows of slender fins glowed bright red, the Astral Drive preparing for activation. It was situated one thousand clicks from Orbital Prime, the large, unfinished Ringworld that encircled a nearby Gas Giant. From the outside, everything seemed calm and peaceful. Aboard the ship, however, it was a different matter. Even with a skeleton crew, it seemed hectic and chaotic aboard, with the small crew of fifty seeming closer to several hundred.
On the Bridge, Captain David Locke sat in his chair, taking another large gulp from his mug of coffee and looking distinctly irritated, with faint dark circles around his eyes. Why in the hell did they have to have this test run so early in the morning, and more over, why the hell were things going so roughly. All the preparations had been made days in advance. Everything should have been fine. Only when they began charging the Astral Drive, problems started cropping up all over the damn ship, affecting nearly every system. Shields were flickering on and off, power to the sensors seemed to be fluctuating wildly, and they'd nearly had one of the matter/anti-matter shells detonate itself in storage. That wasn't to mention that most of the automated systems were down, so his small skeleton crew could barely keep track of everything.
The only upside was that it wasn't his problem. Apparently the mission was too important to be trusted to a mere Captain, so they had one Admiral Alton Keyes overseeing the operation, and the grey-haired old man had taken to handling all these situations with an alacrity that David would have admired if he weren't still waiting for his caffeine hit to kick in. In the chair beside him, Commander Brent van Riet -- a Vilushan originally from the Alliance, but now an SIUS citizen for at least fifty years -- was reading over various tech reports, with a faint frown on his face. He always seemed to be frowning, from what David had seen of him. A very melancholic man, but with a bearing and leadership ability that was to be respected, not to mention an extensive military record.
"Captain?" The ship's computer, Taonas addressed him via his neural comm, "I seem to have most of the problems under control, and thankfully none of my systems seem to have been effected permanently. It was probably due to the exotic matter used in the Astral Drive's power distribution systems that caused the problems, sir. Admiral Keyes is on his way back from Engineering. The test of the new drive can commence then."
"Excellent. Thank you, Taonas." He responded, "Run a full systems analysis none-the-less. I don't want you exploding underneath me, if something goes wrong."
"Very good, Captain."
David let out a sigh and sat back in his chair, setting down his mug and raising a hand to rub at his temples, "Okay, everyone. We've got an Admiral watching over our shoulders on this run, and we want to be sure everything goes smoothly. Not dying would also be a plus," He gestured to Trent Winterbourne, the excitable helmsman who somehow managed to even look casual and laid back in military uniform, "Trent, make sure the course is laid in perfectly. I don't want the Admiral to even feel a micrometeorite grazing against our shields."
Trent grinned, raising a hand to run his fingers through his messy black hair and turning back to his controls, "Already way ahead of you, Cap. This ride 'll be so smooth you'll swear we barely moved at all."
"Brilliant!" David stated, suddenly feeling much more chipper than he had been mere moments earlier, pushing himself to his feet and turning to face his bridge crew, "Alright, boys and girls. We're about to do what no one else in the Milky Way Galaxy has ever done before. We're going to travel from here, to Andromeda, and then back again, in all of-" He mentally ran through the specifications of the Astral Drive, the snapped his fingers, "Thirty seconds. Think of that! Thirty seconds! At speeds like that, we could cross to the other side of the universe in what, a few weeks time? So be proud, and most importantly, don't screw up. You'll make me look bad."
The bridge crew all laughed at David's words, despite the fact that they were said with a completely straight face, they new it was just him trying to ease the tension. More over, it worked. The sense of uneasiness that had been hovering over them like a dark shroud had now lifted, and even the Commander had a faint smirk on his face. Well then, now all I have to do is sit back and hope we make it there in one piece the Captain thought to himself, taking his seat once more and nodding to the Admiral as he stepped onto the Bridge.
"Everything's ready, sir."
"Excellent work, Captain. This is a fine crew you have here. I'm sure you've got everything under control."
"I hope you're right, sir." David replied with a chuckle, "Okay then, Leiutenant Winterbourne. Activate the Astral Drive."
"Done and do-"
---
Watching from the Bridge of a nearby Gilgamesh-class Titan, Aradel Seraphim raised a brow as the Astral Light suddenly flashed bright blue and appeared to explode, before disappearing without a trace, leaving only an expanding cloud of blue plasma where it had been.
"That wasn't meant to happen, was it Admiral?" Aradel asked calmly.
"No, Mister President. Still, we should wait to see if it returns. Perhaps it was just a minor malfunction." The stern looking Admiral replied in a cautious tone.
Aradel turned to face him and frowned, "Here's what you're going to do, Admiral. You're going to remove any record of this ship and its crew from existence. If they have families, I want them paid off, blackmailed, or otherwise silenced. This ship never existed, its crew never existed, and if you fail in this task, the same will go for you. Understand?"
"Yes, Mister President."
By Anna
Prologue
"Status Report."
"Everything's in the green, sir. The power core is running smoothly, with minimal amounts of gamma and beta waves, which the shielding is handling. The Astral Drive is charged and primed. Weapons are also primed. Y'know, in case things don't go as planned."
"Excellent. Now all we do is wait."
The hull of the SINS Experimental Destroyer Astral Light shimmered brilliantly in the light of the nearby white dwarf, its metallic hull bristling with large amounts of potent firepower. Around its cores, rows upon rows of slender fins glowed bright red, the Astral Drive preparing for activation. It was situated one thousand clicks from Orbital Prime, the large, unfinished Ringworld that encircled a nearby Gas Giant. From the outside, everything seemed calm and peaceful. Aboard the ship, however, it was a different matter. Even with a skeleton crew, it seemed hectic and chaotic aboard, with the small crew of fifty seeming closer to several hundred.
On the Bridge, Captain David Locke sat in his chair, taking another large gulp from his mug of coffee and looking distinctly irritated, with faint dark circles around his eyes. Why in the hell did they have to have this test run so early in the morning, and more over, why the hell were things going so roughly. All the preparations had been made days in advance. Everything should have been fine. Only when they began charging the Astral Drive, problems started cropping up all over the damn ship, affecting nearly every system. Shields were flickering on and off, power to the sensors seemed to be fluctuating wildly, and they'd nearly had one of the matter/anti-matter shells detonate itself in storage. That wasn't to mention that most of the automated systems were down, so his small skeleton crew could barely keep track of everything.
The only upside was that it wasn't his problem. Apparently the mission was too important to be trusted to a mere Captain, so they had one Admiral Alton Keyes overseeing the operation, and the grey-haired old man had taken to handling all these situations with an alacrity that David would have admired if he weren't still waiting for his caffeine hit to kick in. In the chair beside him, Commander Brent van Riet -- a Vilushan originally from the Alliance, but now an SIUS citizen for at least fifty years -- was reading over various tech reports, with a faint frown on his face. He always seemed to be frowning, from what David had seen of him. A very melancholic man, but with a bearing and leadership ability that was to be respected, not to mention an extensive military record.
"Captain?" The ship's computer, Taonas addressed him via his neural comm, "I seem to have most of the problems under control, and thankfully none of my systems seem to have been effected permanently. It was probably due to the exotic matter used in the Astral Drive's power distribution systems that caused the problems, sir. Admiral Keyes is on his way back from Engineering. The test of the new drive can commence then."
"Excellent. Thank you, Taonas." He responded, "Run a full systems analysis none-the-less. I don't want you exploding underneath me, if something goes wrong."
"Very good, Captain."
David let out a sigh and sat back in his chair, setting down his mug and raising a hand to rub at his temples, "Okay, everyone. We've got an Admiral watching over our shoulders on this run, and we want to be sure everything goes smoothly. Not dying would also be a plus," He gestured to Trent Winterbourne, the excitable helmsman who somehow managed to even look casual and laid back in military uniform, "Trent, make sure the course is laid in perfectly. I don't want the Admiral to even feel a micrometeorite grazing against our shields."
Trent grinned, raising a hand to run his fingers through his messy black hair and turning back to his controls, "Already way ahead of you, Cap. This ride 'll be so smooth you'll swear we barely moved at all."
"Brilliant!" David stated, suddenly feeling much more chipper than he had been mere moments earlier, pushing himself to his feet and turning to face his bridge crew, "Alright, boys and girls. We're about to do what no one else in the Milky Way Galaxy has ever done before. We're going to travel from here, to Andromeda, and then back again, in all of-" He mentally ran through the specifications of the Astral Drive, the snapped his fingers, "Thirty seconds. Think of that! Thirty seconds! At speeds like that, we could cross to the other side of the universe in what, a few weeks time? So be proud, and most importantly, don't screw up. You'll make me look bad."
The bridge crew all laughed at David's words, despite the fact that they were said with a completely straight face, they new it was just him trying to ease the tension. More over, it worked. The sense of uneasiness that had been hovering over them like a dark shroud had now lifted, and even the Commander had a faint smirk on his face. Well then, now all I have to do is sit back and hope we make it there in one piece the Captain thought to himself, taking his seat once more and nodding to the Admiral as he stepped onto the Bridge.
"Everything's ready, sir."
"Excellent work, Captain. This is a fine crew you have here. I'm sure you've got everything under control."
"I hope you're right, sir." David replied with a chuckle, "Okay then, Leiutenant Winterbourne. Activate the Astral Drive."
"Done and do-"
---
Watching from the Bridge of a nearby Gilgamesh-class Titan, Aradel Seraphim raised a brow as the Astral Light suddenly flashed bright blue and appeared to explode, before disappearing without a trace, leaving only an expanding cloud of blue plasma where it had been.
"That wasn't meant to happen, was it Admiral?" Aradel asked calmly.
"No, Mister President. Still, we should wait to see if it returns. Perhaps it was just a minor malfunction." The stern looking Admiral replied in a cautious tone.
Aradel turned to face him and frowned, "Here's what you're going to do, Admiral. You're going to remove any record of this ship and its crew from existence. If they have families, I want them paid off, blackmailed, or otherwise silenced. This ship never existed, its crew never existed, and if you fail in this task, the same will go for you. Understand?"
"Yes, Mister President."