A No Good, Horribly Rotten, Really Bad, Exodus From Sol
04 Dec 2024Silvia Sharpe
The day started off the same as any other day would start in Sol during the year 3310. Absolute fucking chaos. Woke up to system alerts and Federation warnings. Those damned Thargoids decided it was time to make a beeline to the one place we thought we could just enjoy our lives.So of course with all of that mess Venus and I ended up in a frenzy of packing and placing calls to parliament members. God damned bureaucrats wanted to make a big stink out of an Imperial duchess living in a federation system. Tried calling us traitors to the empire and blah blah blah. I didn't care to listen to their crap I just wanted to get the hell out of Sol.
But as easy as one would think just packing up a travel bag and leaving should be it was anything but. We had spent the last 6 or so months settling into our beautiful new home. Melli had decided it was the perfect time to play hide and seek. Damned fox always being a menace. Can't blame her though, both Venus and I had been really lazy with her training so she was understandably bored out of her little animal mind.
June was going through her "teenage" years being an absolute drama queen. Who knew giving an A.I. a body would be so unbelievably frustrating. She was so kind and thoughtful as a construct but now it's like she's a 16yr old pain in the ass. Part of me feels it's just her trying to fit in to society and part of me feels like she is actually doing this just to irritate me because she too is bored.
After struggling to get June to pack a bag, wrangling Melli, and waiting for Venus to finish talking with the embassy only to be denied permission to board a nearby embassy ship, we headed out to the landing pad and boy oh boy was it frantic. Ships were entering and exiting the nearby star port every couple of minutes. I looked to Venus who just shook her head.
"This is absurd! A duchess denied permission to board an embassy ship departing for Amenta! The gall." She said
"Now now, we still have Memento Mori." I responded motioning at the hodgepodge of scrap metal and twisted panels.
Memento Mori was what one would consider a "trash heap" in its current state. The local critters had made nests in some of the directional thrusters and spaces big enough for them to fit. A couple of field repaired panels had fallen off and exposed some wiring of which a family of squirrels had decided was the perfect place to set up shop. Wires had been chewed through and dangled around the ship and a big chunk of hanging moss had grown on the front of the canopy. Rust had began growing on portions of protected hull.
She looked as though she had been abandoned years ago, though it had only been 6 months since she was shut down. Pine needles and a few smaller branches covered the top of the hull. Hydraulic fluid was seeping from several blown seals for the landing struts. We didn't have the ship repaired when we had returned to the bubble, but man I really should have hired a team to maintain her.
With a deep breath in and a heavy breath out I made my way over to the boarding ramp controls. Pressing the button did absolutely fuck all the first 4 times.
"Great. Cool. Fucking perfect! God damned no good useless ass ramp controls. Just fucking work! I will not be condemned to die on this planet just because some jack off named Salvation decided to fuck around. Why the hell do I have to find out when I wasn't even a part of the crowd to fuck around?" I muttered about as I pressed the button 12 more times.
"Hey uh... mom.... why don't you try checking the on shore power connection? Seems like M&M might not have any juice left in her." June chimed in.
"Why don't you check the.... stop with the mom crap please. It's weird." I replied
"Silvia be nice. I'll check the power feed." Venus said, walking over to the power coupling.
She brushed away some debris and moved a large steel crate out of the way revealing the power coupling. It had been slightly dislodged at some point from who knows what. With a bit of persuasion and a choice few swears Venus managed to remove then reconnect the coupling and the ship sparked and crackled as capacitors and fuses around the ship popped from the sudden influx of power. Hanging wires sparked and popped as electricity surged through the poor connections.
Pressing the button once more the boarding ramp groaned and squealed as it opened. Random pops and bangs rang through the hull as the ship tore itself from its rigor mortis like state. The ramp jammed about halfway down and refused to drop any lower for some reason. After trying to jog it free a few times I gave up and tossed the travel bags onto the ramp.
"How in three hells did this ship degrade soo drastically over the course of 6 or so months?" I asked as I climbed onto the half open ramp.
"The ship status shows integrity at 15%. Large amounts of a caustic substance is recorded in the ships hull records at the moment of last update. That was 3 months ago. You know what... maybe we shouldn't take M&M, mom. She's uh a bit on the uh unsafe side of things." June stated.
"You really are just doing that to irritate me to no end aren't you?" I responded, helping her up onto the ramp followed by Venus.
"I'm inclined to agree with June on this one dear. This ship is well beyond expiration." Venus said dusting herself off.
Without responding I turn to head into the ship only to remember Melli was still on the landing pad.
"Mellita come on." I said subvocally allowing the implant to translate the request to Melli's own implant.
The now thicker ball of fluff leaped up nearly missing the ramp entirely. She began clawing and kicking in a flurry of panic, managing to look like a cat that had missed its leap from one tree limb to another. A snorting giggle left my mouth before I had a chance to reel it in. Venus reached down and pulled Melli onto the ramp shaking her head at her.
"You seem to have put on a couple of pounds my sweet little powdered donut." She said while giving her a gentle scratch between her ears.
A seemingly cheerful chittering came from Mellita before her ears perked up and she darted off into the depths of the decaying ship. The shrill cry of what I can only presume to be a family of squirrels or some other rodent like creature echoed from one corner of the cargo bay. A groan escaped all three of our mouths at the same time knowing one of us was going to have to track down the carcasses, and clean up before the rot set in causing the whole cargo bay to smell of death.
Walking through the ship, new holes in the decking had popped up from whatever caustic substance had been left on the hull. Or maybe it was that random liquid line that said caution corrosive that appeared to be leaking. Honestly either option seemed viable to me.
A slew of memories washed over me as I walked... well more like stumbled through the corridors. My shiny new flashlight was able to hold back the darkness but the dust and haze inside the ship acted like a reflective screen making using the light nearly impossible. Something scurried over head and I nearly leaped out of my skin as a hose dropped down onto my shoulder.
"Oh fuck this! Nope!..... oh phew just a hose. Heh I knew that. Nothings gonna scare Ole Silvia Duval out of this ship." I joked, in a poor attempt to seem unfazed.
As we reached the cockpit door I paused my hand hovering just over the key pad. We hadn't been in this ship in 6 months, and yet it felt like only yesterday I had closed this door behind me thinking it would be the last time I'd ever see her. After a moment I typed in my access code and the door slid open a few inches and jammed. A groan escaped me as I begrudgingly placed my right hand against the edge of the door and pryed with as much force as the servos in the cybernetic limp would allow.
The metal groaned and creaked as I slowly forced the door open. My cybernetic implants and overlays issued warnings as I reached the critical force limiter of the new cyber arm. Eventually some mechanism that had jammed in the inner workings of the door broke loose or exploded, idk which, and the door flew open with a loud clang as it slammed into its pocket.
"This arm is awesome!" I said stepping into the musty, oddly humid cockpit.
I smell of mildew and moisture filled my nostrils immediately, causing me to let out a cough. Some liquid was condensating on the canopy and ceiling. It was sort of sticky yet very slimy. It was almost certainly coolant of some sort based on its sweet and bitter scent.
"Right.... say any chance we can get a full specd out Type-8 or a Mandalay like yesterday?.." I ask half joking half serious.
"Ya, good luck I hear they are more rare than those damned truffles you seem to love soo much." Venus replied mockingly.
Rolling my eyes I took a seat in the commanders seat and brush a layer of moist dust off the console. I clear off as much of the mess as I can and locate the main shutoff switch and with a slight bit of effort manage to flip it into the on position with a satisfying clunk. Sparks jump around and under the switch as the ships auxiliary power is connected to the main reactor. The console lights up with a flicker.
I pull out my data pad and proceed to run through the preflight and relight procedures for the fusion reactor at the heart of Memento Mori. I toggle a series of switches and pause once I get to the reactor ignition button. A hint of fear races through me as I contemplate the multitude of possible horrible reactions that could take place as soon as I press the button.
I take a steadying breath and let it out slowly as I press down on the button. At first there is no response but just as I am about to press the button again a familiar hum begins to resonate through the ship as the reactor core begins to spin up. A welcoming vibration rings through the ship and birds and other wild life that had taken refuge in the ships various nooks and crannies scurry away panicked.
The interior lights flicker for a moment then seem to pop into a steady state. The slumbering giant was awake once again ripped away from her death like state barely hanging on. The reactor readout shows the core operating at only 40% just barely enough for primary systems. We wait for a few moments to allow the reactor time to spool up and find its rhythm.
The ships vibration steadies and the reactor core settles at 75% efficiency. Knowing it would take time for the ship to reach peak performance I figured it would be enough. I ran through the thruster boot sequence first to refamiliarize myself with the controls then for real. As I press the ignition switch a chugging sound booms through the ship as the thrusters struggle to fire. Smoke fills the landing pad as bits of debris, animal remains, and nesting materials are burnt to a crisp as well as the engines burning oxygenated fuel.
A few moments pass and a thunderous boom erupts from the rear of the ship as the main thruster for Memento Mori fires up. Trees directly behind the ship are incinerated as the heat from the engines hits them.
Once all parameters were operating at the best available efficiency I release the auxiliary power supply cable. Some of the systems falter as the secondary power is removed. There is a blip in the reactor core readout as the power plant takes over full power control of the ships primary systems.
Sparks erupt from various modules around the ship and exposed cables as I begin to throttle up the take off thrusters. Pops and surges echo through the ship as the thrusters struggle to lift the land locked ship from its resting place. The locking clamps groan against the tension as the ship strains to take off. A tearing sound followed by a loud bang, deafens the three of us as the ship tears the locking cleats off the reinforced landing pad.
The ship lurches skyward as the thrusters feel the resistance of the pad disappear. I raise the landing gear only to hear crunching grinding and popping as the struts retract into their compartments. Venus raises and eyebrow as the ship dips to the right as two of the directional thrusters sputter.
"No. You behave Missy! You've had your engines swamped before and still lifted off... don't you dare let this planet take you out." I say to the ship fighting to keep it in control.
***
Our trip off planet was just as much of a mess thrusters sputtering and failing. Comms dropping out. Panels shearing off. And the occasional death threats due to our ships registration system. Why is it that Federation brats think they are better than the rest of the galaxy?
I mean I personally think it's because they are pumped full of anti imperial propaganda that they think their faction can do no wrong. *sigh* ya that's probably it.
Politics aside I'm surprised this old bucket of bolts managed to clear atmosphere. Well was almost surprised until alarms went off warning about hull breaches causing us to lock down over 90% of the ship due to risk of oxygen depletion. Melli is grumpy as ever, Venus still fuming over being denied safe passage on an embassy ship and June was just busying herself with complex programs and algorithms that made my head spin.
The jump to supercruise was delayed until we made it out of the soup that is Earth's wonderfully welcoming atmosphere. Mostly because I didn't feel like become a star on a planet. Not like the good star either, I'm talking big orange ball... though I do suppose those stars are good stars too.
I plotted a course to Amenta the old school way because navigation was offline... not sure what happened there but oh well. I lined up our first jump and *blip* into witch space...... well at least for about 2.5 seconds that is. Those awful bugs hyperdicted us. How the hell were they already here? And my god was that frightening. One of those scythe thingies whatever the hell they're called. Oh gods it disrupted our FSD before I had a chance to think.
I thought for sure we were going to die when the ship just listed lifeless through space. Sol was a distant dot on the horizon and our target star was even smaller of a spec. Thankfully for us I think the dead state of our ship had the bugs thinking we were already gone because it left once it scanned us.
It took us 4hrs to get the damned FSD back online after the disruptor missile overloaded the primary secondary and tertiary power circuits. Once we got it patched up I fired it up and launched half the main thruster assembly into the void at roughly 400km/s. So now we are sitting on half a thruster. Limiting jump range to the 30s if we are lucky and we have no communications array.
This really has been the absolutely worst evacuation attempt I have ever personally experienced and I was on the Gnosis!
***
Anyways we made it to Amenta and to the Duval mansion so we will see if we are safe here or not.