And Onward...
01 Apr 2022Fallharbor
I guess it's time to play catch up, huh? A lot has changed since I agreed to help Deck Officer Aurelia England with Hecate's Rest. It was an impulsive decision to say the least. My parents' involvement with the carrier before and after the attack that sent me away made me feel obligated to at least help. But this...this was totally different than flying around space with Freya and Jenn in the Arbmos.Jenn...She was stuck in an induced coma for a few days to help her heal. Freyja wouldn't leave her side and practically hissed at anyone who got too near. Once Jenn woke Freyja calmed a bit with Jenn's insistence. I visited her as often as I could and was assured she was fine when I couldn't. As the new leading Commander of the ship I was kept busy...
Aurelia and I had decisions to make. Where to go? How to get there? These used to be easier decisions with a crew of three but now...well the remaining crew and families of the carrier were relying on us to survive.
"Engineering is still trying to get navigation back up and running but we did get a lock on where we are." Aurelia reported as I stood looking out the ready room's window. "Well...sort of. We're in one of the COL 285 systems but the computer gave out before we could get more info."
"And there's no way to use the Arbmos's nav computer instead? Or any of our remaining ships?" I asked turning to face her with a curious expression.
"The damage to the Arbmos was too great. It's honestly surprising Jennifer was able to fly it into the carrier. Engineering says any of the remaining ships' nav computers wouldn't be enough unless..." Aurelia paused and bit her lip afraid to go on.
I raised a brow and titled my head "We're all in this together at this point, Aurelia. Anything we could use we should, no matter the cost..."
"Well, they said it might be possible to use all of the remaining ships' navigational computer parts to fix the carrier's. They also asked to emphasize the 'might be possible' part since all we have are a couple of small fighters and two mining ships left. The fighters are worse for wear and the miners...well they're our only way to fuel up."
"So if we take their parts we're out of any form of defense and ability to get fuel. And even if the nav only partially works, we either get stranded in a populated system or somewhere empty with no way of going anywhere..."
Aurelia frowned and nodded in agreement. I sighed and looked over my shoulder out the window again to think for a moment before turning back to Aurelia. "Then we leave it up to the carrier. We broadcast the situation and take a majority vote."
Aurelia's eyes widened. "Commander! Excuse my frankness but are you fucking crazy? As the leader of this ship you-"
"We're both leaders of this ship," I interjected "And sure we can make this decision here. Just the two of us. But there are whole families onboard. They should have a say..."
"Vidal, I understand what you mean but I'm not sure the crew and most of the families will agree with giving those Far God followers a voice in any decision."
"You told me they were let on board as refugees and so far they seem harmless. Additionally, they don't appear to be part of the same order that I've read about. Far God followers usually keep to themselves and don't interact with outsiders. Therefore, I suspect they want the carrier to survive as much as the rest of us."
Aurelia frowned again. A usual reaction to most of what I say. She looked down and chuckled as she shook her head in disbelief. "This is crazy but...fine. Let's ask the carrier what they want to do."
I smiled at her and placed my hands on her shoulders in reassurance. "It'll be fine. I promise." She gave a brief smile but I know she was worried. I did my best not to show I was too.
We walked out and sent out a carrier wide digital broadcast with the plan and a poll attached. The results returned with a staggering 98% agreement to the plan. I confidently smiled at Aurelia who rolled her eyes at me. We'd wait for the miners to fill us with enough Tritium for a jump before the ships ran out of fuel and then Engineering would take over. It took a couple of days before the miners returned with the fuel supply and the Engineers could do their work.
"Commander, it's ready sir...Well, as ready as it'll ever be..." the lead Engineer reported to me on the bridge as I walked in pushing a wheelchair that Jenn sat on; Freyja laid asleep on her lap.
I took a deep breath, placed my hands on Jenn's shoulders and smiled at the crew. "Officer England, please open a ship wide broadcast."
Aurelia nodded and swiped at her tablet, "Comms open, Commander."
"Hecate's Rest, this is Commander Fallharbor. We have chosen a path of great risk with an uncertain reward but I am comforted by the fact that we chose this together. In a few moments we will attempted to use our navigation computer to jump to the nearest star where we can get help for your families and our home. I promise you, no matter the result of this jump we will stay together to the end. Fallharbor out."
"That was...inspiring yet terrifying....good to know leading a carrier hasn't changed you since I've been away" Jenn said with a light chuckle.
I cleared my throat awkwardly and looked at the bridge crew "Alright, lets go."
Hyperspace Jump Initiated...
As everyone took their seats, I help Jenn onto one of the chairs on the command deck and strapped her in before taking the Captain's chair.
Hyperspace Jump in 5...4...3...2...1
The now familiar yet still spectacular lightening flashed ahead as space was torn open. The carrier groaned as it entered the rift and off we went. The ride was just bumpy at first but then the klaxon blared as Witch-space slowly changed from it's various colors to a necrotic green. The carrier tumbled violently and the console flashed various warning signs. I looked down to Aurelia and noticed her frozen in her seat. She just stared out the window as tears glimmered red and green on her face.
"Officer England, status!" I yelled out to her multiple times but got no response. "Engineering! Status!" I yelled to the engineer but he was holding his head between his legs yelling 'not again, not again.'
I unstrapped and looked back to Jenn. She was holding on to Freyja and signaled me that they were ok. I slowly made my way to Aurelia and took her hand. "Officer England! Officer England!! Aurelia!"
She blinked and shook her head at the sound of her name and slowly looked down at me. I gently squeezed her hand "We'll get through this Aurelia, but I need your help." She stared at me for a moment and then took a deep breathe and nodded.
"Officer England, status report!" I said getting back into my seat.
"We are being hyperdicted by a thargoid, Commander! Fortunately, your father built an automated program that attempts to shake off the hyperdiction but right now the ship can't handle the pull. If we don't get out of this fast-"
"Does the program always work?"
"This is the first time its activated!"
"Is there anyway to assist the program?"
"I'm not sure Commander! I don't have enough information on it but it's possible if we divert power-"
"Do what you can Aurelia!"
The ship shook evermore violently as the it attempted to break free of the hyperdiction. Screens and dashboards short circuited.
"Hull integrity is going down dramatically, commander!" yelled one of the crew.
"56 percent!"
"34 percent"
"14percent!
"Sir! Anymore and the ship will be torn apa-"
There was a loud roar as the familiar lightening returned outside and the ship exited Witch-space. Outside only stars.
"Status!"
"Ship integrity holding at 6%!"
"Frame shift drive at 0% intergrity!"
"Any thargoids on scanners!?"
"No sir! No thargoids or anything in the immediate area!"
"Aurelia, where are we!"
"Working on it...working on it...." she swiped furiously on the tablet and computers and then started to chuckle. The bridge all slowly turned to look at me and then her. She continued to chuckle for moment staring at her screen before turning to me with tears in her eyes. "I got our location before the nav computer gave out...We did it...We're in populated space!" The crew cheered and clapped.
I let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "Great! Aurelia, broadcast on all available channels."
"Comms open Commander, but we don't have much range."
"This is fleet carrier VFM-60J Hecate's Rest broadcasting an S.O.S. to any nearby ships. We are in immediate need of repairs and medical help. Our comms system is damaged and unable to broadcast any farther. Can anyone please respond?"
The crew's feeling of hope slowly turned to despair as the klaxon blared and no response came.
"Someone turn that damned alarm off!" The alarm cut off abruptly and I took a deep breathe. "This is fleet carrier VFM-60J Hecate's Rest broadcasting an S.O.S. to any nearby ships We are in immediate need of repairs and medical help. Our comms system is damaged and unable to broadcast any farther. Can anyone-"
"This is the T.O.C. Solaris of Titan Contractors. We've received your S.O.S and are broadcasting it to Resnik Dock. Help is on the way."
The bridge burst into cheers again. They hugged and cried. Aurelia looked to me with a smile and tears. Jenn smiled as well which was...rare but welcomed.
It had seemed that the hyperdiction threw us straight into a carrier administration system called Rutu. Resnik Dock sent over a ship to tug us in for repairs. The days the followed were filled with administrative work for both Aurelia and I. I used whatever funds I had available to chip in but it was the cartographic data stored on the Hecate's computers that gave us enough to repair and apply new services. Aurelia and I agreed to have Jenn be head of security, an offer she reluctantly accepted. The Arbmos was repaired and I had enough credits to fix the Berserker.
I flew over to the Solaris while it was in system and formally introduced myself. They were undergoing renovations themselves but gave me the time to thank them and get to know the squadron a bit. They gave me formal ID and invited me to join them Misir when they returned from their current trip. I agreed and we parted ways.
Once the repairs and new renovations were done it was time for us to decided what to do next....
Aurelia, Jenn, and I sat in the ready room. Finally a meeting that was relaxed and not weighed by life and death decisions....
"And last but not least, the Concourse Bar is complete and is tended by one Kiera Bennett. They certainly seem excited to be part of the crew...I think..." Aurelia said.
"You think?" Jenn and I responded simultaneously.
"Well...they gave a stoic 'Glad to be onboard' and continued cleaning glasses" Aurelia shrugged.
"Good enough." I said uncertain.
"Now we just need a new purpose to actually pay for our upkeep." Aurelia said putting down her tablet.
"Right...Well, Jenn and I can certainly go out and bounty hunt for a while and make enough to keep us afloat. That wouldn't be any trouble at all." I responded with a confident smile.
"It'd be welcomed actually after the last few days." Jenn said with a smirk. Freyja mewed from her new tower by the window.
"That's all well and good but the carrier's crew can't just sit here and do nothing. The crew will undoubtly get bored and well...probably leave. The families that live here will surely stay but without a crew it will be hard to take care of all their needs. Those Far God followers definitely won't budge but they'll become more of a problem if the people don't have something else to think about."
I rubbed my chin in thought for a moment before I snapped my fingers. "Titan Contractors."
"The squadron that helped us get help?" Aurelia asked confused.
"Yes!"
"What about them?"
"I've been in contact with them and they're quite the friendly bunch. They're headed to Colonia at the the beginning of April and said we were welcome to join."
Aurelia's jaw dropped as Jenn just palmed her face shaking her head.
"You-you can't be serious, Vidal. We just got back after years in the black and you want to drag the carrier back out there?"
"I-I know how it sounds but this would be different. We'd be going with a fleet of carriers. Safety in numbers as they say. And this time we won't be on a specific mission. It's a trip. Leisure. Out to the center of the galaxy and back."
Aurelia scoffed, picked up her tablet and walked out.
"You sure have a way with words, Vee."
"I've got no other idea. This'll take us on a path that'll allow both universal cartographics and vista geonomics to make us some money. From what I know about hte remaining family and crews they are miners, explorers, and xeno-biologists."
"Yeah but Vee, like Aurelia said they all just got back."
"I know...I know...but...I've got nothing else. We stay here and Amara will eventually find us with who knows how big a gang. And even if she doesn't the crew will get bored doing nothing. Not everyone has a penchant for fighting like us..."
Jenn had nothing to argue against it ask much as she'd want to. I had really had nothing else to give the carrier. "We'll have a vote again. The citizens of the carrier can decide what to do..."
Aurelia reluctantly sent out a new digital braodcast and poll. This time the poll was tied and so it was left to me and Aurelia to decide but after some convincing she agreed but only if we stayed with the fleet. The decision was broadcast, people left, new one were recruited and we jumped to Misir. There Jenn recruited new security and the carrier prepped itself for a new journey. Hecate's Rest was to join Titan Contractors on Trip OMEGA Phase 3.
As the preparations were under way I took some time to sneak away. I grabbed Freyja and took the Berserker to the nearby system of Chronos and landed on one of it's planets. I sat there with Freyja for a moment before setting her down walking out. She mewed as I left. I walked up the hill and stared out into the sky and space beyond.
My parents live and breathed adventure on Hecate's Rest before it all went wrong. I don't know what they might have dreamt for me when they sent me away but I know they wanted me to live. What better life than adventure and the unknown...
