The Apisni Trilogy: Book 1
24 Apr 2019XenonofArcticus
Hi, all this is just a short story I wrote. Hope you like it!The Apisni Trilogy: Book 1
The End of All Days
Many hundreds of years ago in the year 2745, a deep space probe sent data back from the system dubbed Isk d47-23 Ap-1. Within this data was hidden a special line of code that meant the world to the mothership. Water had been detected on one of the worlds in the system. Isk d47-23 Ap-1 was marked as a candidate for further exploration and filed away until a time which exploration was more feasible.
Year- 2897
System- Isk d47-23 Ap-1
A small light lit up the cabin in bright green. A small beep followed. --{Incoming Transmition}-- Candidate system reached witchspace dropout in ten minutes --{End Transmition}--. The Oriana Jumped into the Isk d47-23 Ap-1 system with a jolt waking her inhabitants. Captian Bernard Jones looked at the early scans coming into the hud. It was detecting 2 stars in the system with the majority of the planets around the second one. A malfunction lit up the dashboard and Bernard looked down to find that his Fuel Scoop was damaged irreplaceably. “We haven't even been here five minutes and this system is cuttin into the paycheck” he grumbled. “Arnt you just a little stinger? Isk d47-23 Ap-1 is that your name? Ap-1. I think I will name you Apisni.” “Sir detecting the rest of the fleet jumping in.” Said Commander Trevith. Jones had the command of 2 Anaconda class and 3 Type 9 class deep space scouts. He also had brought a Python class fighter. Strange things we afoot these days what with all those odd octagonal ships spotted by the Pleiades. “Nav officer, what planet did that report say had water?” “Unknown sir. That is the weird thing about this system. The probe didn’t get any data on the planets. Just the existence of water.” “Very well move us to planet A 1.” “Yes Sir. Arrival in 10 minutes”.
The Oriana and her wing dropped into orbit around the newly named Apisni A 1. Their scanners got straight to work. After a few minutes, a small beep and a red light announced that this was not the planet the group was after. “Nav move us to B 1”. A countdown and streaks of light announced the jump to Supercruise. Almost half an hour later the fleet dropped again at planet B 1. Almost immediately after the hud updated Jones spoke, “We found her. Our Rose in the darkness.” A small cheer erupted from the comms and the bridge of the Oriana. This was going to be a great payday once they got back home. “Rennera and Oceanias you go map planets B 2-4 Acrennis and Alrea you get 5-7. Scorpio you stay with us and help us set up the equipment and nav beacon.” Reports of “Yes Sir” came in across all ships. The ships dispersed across the system with check-ins scheduled for every 30 minutes. Equipment was set up and transmissions started arriving from the other ships within the hour. 6 check-ins later the Rennera Reported that the Oceanias had gone missing on a scouting trip to the far side of B 2 a. A fleet order was issued. Meet up with Rennera ASAP. As all ships rushed to her position Jones wondered what could have caused a Type 9 to stop transmitting? Commander Trevith brought him out of his thoughts “Dropping in on Rennera now sir” A phase to normal space was all that told them they had entered normal space… For a moment. Soon an alarm started blaring and Trevith announced: “Sheilds taking heavy damage Sir!” “Where is the Rennera Commander?” “She is right ahead of us Sir but something is wrong. She is not responding to any hails and seems to be venting atmosphere and debris.” “Get docked to her I want to see if anyone is still alive. Seal all doors and prepare to depressurize the airlock.” “Yes, Sir.” As the Oriana pulled up next to the Rennera it was clear that she had not survived. A large hole was torn in the side of the ship and the escape pods had been destroyed. The Rennera was a loss of all hands. Captain Jones ordered the Scorpio to find the Oceanias and bring her back. The Acrennis and Alrea arrived moments later. Soon after drop-in, the Scorpio Radioed in to say that the Oceanias had been found badly damaged and that both ships were working together to reach the meet-up point.
Hours later all remaining Captains met on the bridge of the Oriana to discuss what to do. A plan was agreed upon and the ships fired up their thrusters to prepare to maneuver. As their jump drives were charging an unknown ship dropped in. It started shooting before any contact could be made. Slowly ships started winking out of existence. The last thing Jones saw was a green beam come right at the Oriana. Then it all went black.
Falling. As if in a dream Jones felt like he was falling. Falling? Why was he falling? Was he not dead? With a gasp, it all came back to him. He awoke with a jump. Fire streamed from the sides of his ship. A crack in the canopy made large amounts of heat come streaming in. Hot. So so hot. Jones reached over and hit the switch to fleetwide comms. “Is anyone there? Can anyone hear me?” he groaned with great effort. After a few seconds, a voice responded. “Here Sir. Commander Arera Scott of Engineering.” “Commander Scott is anyone else down there with you?” “No Sir just me.” “Ok come up to the bridge. I have a feeling this is not going to be a pretty landing” “On my way Sir.” The ship continued falling. Off to the sides, Jones could see the other members of the fleet also falling with flame coming off in the thin atmosphere. Other assorted debris were falling with them but at this point, most had burned up. Jones managed to call up his altitude monitor. The ship was 35 kilometers up and coming in fast. If they could jumpstart the engines at about 10 kilometers they may be able to slow down enough to survive. Scott ran into the bridge. “Sir I may be able to manually feed the AFMU the ammo it needs to repair the engines to bring us in.” “Ok get on it, Commander Scott we will hit the 10k mark in 1 minute and 48 seconds”. A whirring sound told Jones that the AFMU had fired up. Now he had to wait. A boom shook the ship all power went out. “Commander Scott!” Jones yelled. “Yes, Sir?” came a muffled response. “I hope that was not the reactor like I think it was.” “It was the reactor sir but I have a plan. Get in your vacuum suit and meet me at the back of the ship sir.” “Ok Commander.” Jones rushed to the back and waited for Scott by pulling up the Altitude monitor. Scott ran into the room as they were 12k up. “What is your, plan Commander?” “No time sir. Strap in and brace for deceleration”. Right then a loud boom echoed throughout the ship. Then 5 seconds later another. On and on the booms kept coming. Jones pulled up the speed and altitude on a screen. It was working! They were slowing down! At 5 kilometers and 500 meters per second, Scott yelled “Brace for Impact!” A very loud boom sounded at the far end of the ship and all the air rushed out. Then mere seconds later the ship slammed into the ground and started sliding. Metal creaked and cracked and screeched. After over 600 meters The ship came to a rest with its nose planted into the ground. Scott closed all doors and repressurized the remains of the ship. A slight ding alerted them that the air was safe to breathe. They both wandered to the bridge. A horrible sight greeted them. 3 of the ships had already hit the ground. Debris was still falling and everything was still ablaze. As they watched the remains of the Scorpio came screeching from the sky and slammed into the ground. In those seconds its reactor went critical and the ship blew apart in a fireball. “Now what Sir?” asked Commander Scott. “I have no idea. It’s the End of All Days.” was Jones’ response.
The End
Look for Book 2 of the Apisni Trilogy Need to Survive coming soon.