Chapter 6: No return

[Nohiki]

Premise: After the evacuation, the survivors of Croatoan have to deal with a few facts: some of them didn't make it, they are on different, smaller ship, and they are stuck in another galaxy without any hope for returning home. Starts shortly after the Explorer jumped away from the exploding Croatoan.

Testing: 1st person role play
Limitations: Single character per player
Goal: To see if 1st person can increase immersion and depth of character

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IC: Ariaka

I still couldn't believe it. The Croatoan... oh gods...

I wasn't able to think until we dropped out of hyperspace. Still dazed from the events, it took me good deal of time to recuperate from the stun. Did everyone make it? I wondered, but I had no way to tell for now, which greatly contributed to the sum of my worries.

Oh lords... I practically ordered Keil to do a suicide run...

I opened my mind to the system, and poked around the system I was occupying. The ship spewed back an avalanche of pings from dozens of access points all over the small ship. I wanted to check on so many things, but now I had limitations. Despite being bigger, the ship's computers totalled less processing power than the Mark II android. I felt numb.

Life support! I commanded myself, prioritizing the survival of my friends. first off, seal any leaks. The ship appeared undamaged. A small wonder in on itself, given that it's mothership looked like swiss cheese in the end. Next thing I checked were the CO₂ scrubbers. Again, the ship had full tanks. It looked like even the emergency we had until we visited Zenith didn't affect the escape vehicle.

Did everyone get out? What if I shut down the door on someone?

Poking around some more, I finally found the feeds from cameras and audio systems. Still no luck on sensors. There were two figures slumped on the ground. Arguing with the ship's firmware for a few short moments, I managed to turn the hall lights on. There they were, Rucha and Lee, and both seemed to be conscious. Perhaps at least some good came out of this.

I tried to speak to them and promptly lost control of the ship. There wasn't enough power in these computers to synthetise my voice in real time. I lit up a nearby console instead, hoping they would pick up on it.
Are you hurt?
I typed in with great effort. I missed my hands already.

[Midnightmoon]

"A mess?" I asked in confusion. Confused at what Rucha had said and how she had acted. I was now toppled over on my side from the force of Rucha's unexpected hug. "Uh, I-" I stammered out after a second, but was cut off with a beap. My ears had pinpointed and were facing the position before i had completely turned my head. It was a control monitor for the room and instead of the present status logs there was something else. Scouching out of Rucha's reach with a apolagetic grin I got my feet under himself and slowly rose. The momentary migrane came back into reality and I groaned again, putting a hand to my temple. it hurt, but I made it. The words Are you hurt?" were scrawled there. I tried to think of a short responce... thinking hurt. So I typed back, Any painkillers on board? then turned back to Rucha, "So, for what reason did the ship get blown up again? And you said something happened to me?"

[Zetherus]

The sound of me grinding my teeth and wet cold sweat dripping from my eyebrows behind my mask as the bright light of my hyper space comes to an end. The bright stars and nebulas in the distance are the only competitors with my radar, switches, lights and two moving red insignias moving in irritating sways on me fighter's radar screen. A shake from my fighter woke me from my shock over Croatoan's destruction, that's after I noticed my jet's shields being damaged from Vok fire. It took me a second to get my crap together and fight back.

I grabbed both control sticks on opposite walls of my fighter and pulled the right one back until my front thrusters initiated and worked like a charm. Lights on my left and right from my thrusters reversed my fighter quickly as I watched the fools fly past me making their way to the escape boat in the glimmering distance. "Oh no you don't!" I yelled in the the emptiness of my cockpit as I punched forward with my right stick hearing the main thrusters hum as I was hurled at my two enemies. I pitched right and unloaded on the enemy to the right feeling my cannons vibrated the whole fighter as the enemy I was firing at was vaporized into metallic chaos. Next I punched through the alien debris hearing the pieces bounce off my jet's hall then rolled to a position where I would face the escape boat's pursuer. Noticing the bad situation, I went into full throttled and caught up to the survivors, and in a stylish ark, I bowed past the bridge window of the shuttle facing the enemy then recreating the same disaster of what happened to his comrade by turning the fighter into explosive debris. "Phew, that was close! Hey can anyone read me?" I called through the mic while flipping down the hailing switch near my left control stick and watching the monitor for a face to appear.

[Nohiki]

Thinking I would be as helpful as I usually was, I slaved all communication systems to me. Too late did I realize there was way too much multi tasking on my mind than my current brain could handle. For now, I put Tal'Set on hold, noting on the radar that it was his fighter that was flying alongside. I turned my attention back to the duo of survivors.
Medication stock - unknown.
You can speak when addressing me.
I am still getting used to being a spaceship.
I have Tal'Set's fighter on sensors, but you are the only two survivors I've found inside the ship - so far.

Ariaka
I signed the message on the bottom just in case they didn't figure out yet it was me. The screen froze as I went to assist the Anero'Nolmi. Opening a channel to the fighter, I sent another message.
Sorry for the delay. We're still recovering.
I found Rucha and Lee on board.
Are you injured? It will take time to figure out how to get you on board -
This ship lacks a docking bay.

Ariaka
I felt a jolt of helplessness at the situation. From what I could tell, the explorer only had an airlock, and I had no idea how long it would take for me to learn to operate it, when I couldn't do as much as scan for life signs on board. This was getting frustrating.

[Zetherus]

The blank screen worried me for the moment, so I checked to see if I really did put my rifle and equipment in the gun locker. It wasn't there when I opened it, but when I looked down at the second seat I saw my stuff resting on the copilot seat. I was relieved when I realized that my only weapon wouldn't be my fighter now. I sent my back against my seat once more sighing happily when I took a look back at the monitor noticing writing course across the screen. "Sorry for the delay. Were still recovering..." I read aloud to myself then finished the rest in my mind. It was good to hear that Rucha and this Lee I never met before have survived, "But what about the others?" I asked myself activating the command panel to my right and start typing mentally.

Hey Ariaka, I'm alright considering that I sustained no injuries, just what about the others? Did the commando from Zenith at least escape with you?
Also don't worry about me getting on that ride any time soon. My jet has it's own life support and pulse gens that can last for centuries and besides you'll need the extra help with guns if we're attacked again. I guess I'll see you guys on the ground whenever possible!

After that, I set my jet to following procedures where it would auto pilot and keep within a range of 60 meters near the shuttle at all times. Also alerting me of enemy contact if there where to be such contact now.

[Nohiki]

Tal's message felt like a shot through the heart. It made me want to scream, but I had no voice. The ship was starting to feel more and more like a prison. I needed to get out of here.

Blacking out on the crew, I turbo-poked every periphery the ship had offered me. I finally got through it's thick mainframe to some degree, getting the layout and equipment of the ship. It was furbished as a science vessel, apparently intended for long term survival of small crew. At least one thing worked in our favor. The data feeds said the ship was in perfect order, despite the punishment Croatoan sustained, this thing was OK. I moved to check on our cargo and equipment. To my surprise, there was no medical facility. I found out why soon enough, and it was exactly what my hunch was. The ship came with a full nano lab. It was easy to connect the dots from there with the files I downloaded from Croatoan's core. This is where the rebels created all of us. And it was all that was needed. Who had use for an infirmary when you could reconstruct a whole body as long as the brain remained intact. The rest of the ship was the same - labs, labs, more labs, cargo bay, engineering, and few bunk rooms. I still couldn't get internal sensors to work.

going back to the crew, i sent out two messages:
I hate to rush you, but get up and look around, if they made it, others might not be as OK as you are.
I sent to the terminal near Lee and Rucha, along with instructions directing them to the nano lab in case anyone needed medical attention. The next message went to Tal'Set. I left the cursor blinking idly for a few seconds, gathering courage to type this.
I... I don't know, but... I don't think he did.
was all I could write. I quickly busied myself with figuring out where we wound up not to think about it.

[Zetherus]

I waited patiently for a response until I got it, watching it course across the same screen. I read the lines and felt the empty darkness fill my blind rage. Taking a second to recuperate my disbelief, I went back to the screen and managed to send back a message acting like I wasn't worried about it.

Well... at least he lived up to his ancient purpose. May we see him again someday and give him a proper burial, if we do that is.
So I'm guessing you lost your mech and you need me to outfit your vessel with a gun right? Also I might be able to build a body for you, if we land somewhere soon that is.

After that, I activated long rang transmitters to see if any kind of debris from destroyed war vessels were brought up on the screen. None were found and it felt like for some strange reason that commando was still alive, fighting in a dark and evil place... Hell!

[Nohiki]

The message made me feel slightly better, though not much. Reading up on the second part, I whipped up a reply:
I do have a 'body'. I -AM- the Explorer.
contingency have been planned by the original crew. All hardware needed to create a humanoid shape for myself is on board, it will just be some time before I have full control of the ship.
With that, I started focusing on what we were to do now. I concentrated on getting any sensors online and looked for a way to get Tal'Set on board. We were going to need all hands we can get.
I have gained access to propulsion and docking clamps. It would seem I can tow you to hyperspace with us instead of wakejumping. Stand by.
With that, i fired up the engines. All of a sudden the ship felt more open to me. I looked into it and saw that the whole time there was a hardware block preventing full activation until this step was done. finally getting enough power, smarts and access, I switched to voice. "Ah, much better." I said, both from the ship's intercom and transmitting to the fighter outside. Firing the maneuvering thrusters, I moved the explorer over the fighter and deployed the clamps, locking Tal's fighter in a tow.

Docking clamps secure.
Calibrating sensors to search for habitable planet.
Stardrive fully charged.
Performing system check:
Life support: Nominal
Power generation and distribution: Nominal
Shielding: 85%
Hull integrity: Nominal
Propulsion: Nominal
Weapons: Stand-by mode
All hands, stand by for short-jump.

I reported, immersed in the ship's data much like when my mind joined the Croatoan before. The stardrive hummed as the power flowed through it, making me feel strangely warm. In a blink of an eye a window opened in front of me and I slipped in, the swirling blue and white of hyperspace enveloping me. It only took a few second of hyperspace travel to reach the selected destination. In the same brilliant flash of light, I dropped out to normal space.

We have arrived at the designated coordinates.
Charging stardrive.
Assuming orbit around the planet.
Performing scan:
Atmosphere: 65% nitrogen, 25% oxygen, 8% carbon, 2% hydrogen, supporting life
Surface: 7% land, 93% water
Gravity: 0.87 Ship standard

I stopped reporting, switching from my autopilot mode back to normal and waited for report from those on board.

[Kauria]

He doesn't remember, I thought, staring at Lee. Hah, then again, it seems like nothing good ever comes of it.
"We were attacked. I don't know by who. As for you . . . " I stopped to pick my words carefully. "Well, we found you collapsed on the floor. But it was worse than that. You were out. Kiruza had just arrived when we were attacked. Don't think too much on it yet. Bigger problems at the moment."
The terminal beeped again, insistently. I scanned over the two messages, feeling a sickness settle in my belly at the thought of the crew members we wouldn't find.
Before I could say anything, though, Ariaka's voice came on around us, and I found my mind clicking through the checklist with her report, a distant part of me mildly relieved.
Doing something always helped. "Come on," I said to Lee. "We need to see who else made it on with us." Something furry rubbed against my right ankle, and it took all my will to hold back a shudder. I'm pretty sure my face gave away my internal struggle. "There's—one already," I said through gritted teeth and a forced smile, looking down at the cat. "Let's hope we can keep that up."

[Midnightmoon]

"Attacked? Was it them again? The, eh..." I tried to fill in the who question but came up a blank, which made me concerned. "I should know this... no wait, guess I shouldn't." I thought to myself as my mind filled in why I shouldn't. How gracious of it to at least give me something. "The... guys who attacked us before? Darn them. But at least they did us the favor of not having to fix the thing... but, at what trade off." I added quickly after realizing what I had said. I fidgeted with my goggles, then ducked down to pet the cat, "Hey, lina, sweetling." I got back up slowly and noticed something off about how Rucha acted and how she was saying her words. I reached out and tapped her shoulder with my claws gently and a bit awquardly*. "Ya, from what I can remember of the old ships scematics, there are lots of exits off the ship. And don't forget that we all woke up in different places throughout that old thing, who's to say that there aren't some people here?" With one last tap I marched confidently to the other door, each step sending jar to my skull.

(ooc: lina is intended to be his own tongue but you can interprete it as the cats name is you want.)
(ooc2: also plan on changing his personality in a way, the way i originally intended, just giving a heads up)

[Zetherus]

I closed my eyes for a brief second to feel a slight jolt of my craft when the escape boat locked with my hall. Just about to type to ask "what's the plan," I saw the monitor light up with Ariaka's response to my offer which surprised me to think a transfer of an AI core could separate from it's control conduit. Thinking for a sec as the latching craft began it's journey to take me with it, a thought occurred. I brought up my scanner array and blueprinted the ship above to seek my suspicion. As I thought! A cluster of wires and power fluctuations in the ship's mainframe suggested that a surrogate AI core was present in the actual brain of the research vessel. I gave a smirk of cleverness to Ariaka to know that the builders of the mother ship and this one would create such a risk for a rouge AI.

I brought up my puzzled thoughts and responded to Ariaka to not make this as awkward of a delay to a message as it already was,

Interesting! Well to more important information, what are you doing; for instance, what's the plan for our next approach if we're about to jump?

I wrote in deep thought wondering where the next destination lies for us in dark space.

[Nohiki]

The planet below seemed hospitable enough. Most of it was covered in ocean and the water and carbon dioxide made the temperatures really high, but there was enough oxygen for the others to breathe and the temperature was bearable on the poles where the only land was. All in all, it seemed like the planet once had life, quite possibly even carbon based, but the atmospheric pollution caused the polar caps to melt and most of the inhabited landmass flooded. It'll have to do. I opened a channel to Tal's fighter: "I'm going to release your ship and attempt a landing. There is a patch of even land around these coordinates. Meet us there." I said and switched back to control mode.

"Guys, we're about to enter atmosphere and things may get a little... turbulent. Either find the bridge and take a seat or just hold on to something." I said to Rucha and Lee. Releasing the clamps, I set Tal's fighter free and turned around. I slightly tickled the throttle to send us onto suborbital path and then boosted the shields to maximum output. Showtime. This should work, but then again, it would be a first time anything did. I thought, but knew to keep it for myself. In few moments, the ship started to vibrate as it started plowing through the gas surrounding the planet.

[Kauria]

I wrenched my arms around a railing on the wall and tensed, drawing myself closer to it. My bare feet prickled, their ridges unfolding to grip the floor, and I slid into a near-crouch. The wall was cold against my back, even through the jacket. The ship shook, the vibrations an echo of the explosions that had torn the Croatoan apart. The shaking got worse and worse. I scrunched my eyes shut. Was it my imagination, or was the wall getting warmer? A brief, terrible image of falling apart in flames flashed behind my eyelids, and I realized that I'd stopped breathing. I forced myself to unseal my nostrils and let the air rush in.

[Midnightmoon]

I stumbled as the ship shook and I swore as I hit the floor which made me start seeing stars. After a pause I made myself crawl over to the doorframe and wedge myself there, hands to my head and eyes closed, "It'll be over soon, it'll be over soon..." I thought to myself with a groan as my brain decided it was too small for my skull and tried to crack through. "You sure there's no painkillers? There's gotta be some here."

[Nohiki]

The re-entry was slightly more violent than I expected, but the shield held up well ant the temperature inside only changed a little by the time the lower and denser layers of atmosphere slowed us down. Cutting through the clouds, I guided the ship to leveled flight, and soon we were hovering above the only landmass on the planet.

And I felt tired. The degree of control required was unlike anything I ever done before. I only attempted re-entry with the Croatoan, but back then I simply slammed the ship onto the atmosphere in a vertical dive and had much better CPU. Calculating a jump seemed like a past time activity compared to this. Now I just need to land this bucket and then I can get to work.

Reaching out with my mind, I deployed the landing struts and started lowering the ship until it touched down on the bare and. I let out a relieved sigh. "We're in one piece." I reported, going over damage reports, "Sorry about the shaking, I took us down a little too steep." I apologized. How did I make a mistake like that? IF the shield failed... Better not think of it and correct it instead.

I ceased doing all other things. Opening the folder containing the data about me I pulled from Croatoan, I started reading through it. Soon enough I learned how to operate the machinery in the assembly lab and set it to work. I needed a pair of hands and better brain to work, and in an hour or so, I should be free of this prison CPU!

OOC: To my knowledge only Lance remains to be found, so do that on your way out or something