Welcome the Demented Tiger's den. This a place of evil and fantasy. Here, unbelievable tales are woven from very familiar sources. This is the story of Star Ocean, based off a video game by Tri-Ace and Square Enix. In the current segment, Claude Kenni, a young Frenchman groomed to become an officer of the Naval Aviation forces of his corrupt world government just like his father, is mysteriously transported to another planet after he tampers with an unknown alien object while on his first and only extraterrestrial space mission. Stranded on this world, the young cadet has little choice but to blend in with the local population and scrape out a living with no hope of returning to his homeworld. But when he is mistaken for a mystical hero and teamed up with an alien girl endowed with mysterious healing powers to investigate a mysterious cursed object; Claude realizes that he may learn to like it here. Friends, a warm home, a lover, and possibly a future of his own choosing will be his – if he can save the universe in time.
Disclaimer: The Demented Tiger does not own the rights to Star Ocean, the Second Story, its characters, or its plot. They belong to Tri-Ace and Square Enix. However, the Demented Tiger has taken creative liberties on character personalities, setting descriptions, and certain events within the story.
Star Ocean, the Second Story
Part 1: Journey to the Ocean of Stars
Cast
Claude C. Kenni
Race: Human: Frankish
Gender: Male
Age: 19 years old
Birth Date: January 23, 2086 Ano Domini
Son of the United Nations Naval Aviation hero Admiral Ronixis Kenni, and the brightest scientist on the planet Gaia, Ira Silvestone Kenni; Claude has gone into space to satisfy a childhood longing and to build his resume as a canidate for Admiral. Unfortunatly, Claude would rather become a scientist and build up his credentials with research and breakthroughs rather than have his father force him into politics and warfare by manipulating circumstances from backstage. He does not want to become a commander, despite the lucritive offers of power and money. He wants to discover himself, and what he can be. Furthermore, as a devoute Roman Catholic and well versed in Byzantine Orthodox Christianity; Claude wants to do more than just "help" people by killing disedents and controlling politicians. Claude is also a very fierce fighter, and will viciously attack anyone who threatens the weak or helpless.
Rena Lanford
Race: Nedian
Gender: Female
Age: 17 years old
Birth Date: May 13, 2088 Ano Domini (Gregorian reckoning1)
Abandoned as a girl in a forest, Rena was raised by a village woman named Westa Lanford in the tiny hamlet of Arlia. At an early age, Rena disovered she could heal herself and others with merely a touch of her hand, a talent unknown among the mages of Expel. Shunned by all the other children except Dias and Cecilia Flac, Rena fled to the forest where she spent long hours meditating in the serinity of the pines. Naturally amicable, Rena makes friends easily, and is usually filled with a deep compassion for others. Unfortunatly, she can be a jealous rival, and can be overprotective of her friends. She is fiercely loyal, and, although she may become upset and pouty; never, ever abandons her friends out of anger or spite.
Celine Jules
Race: Expelian
Gender: Female
Age: 23 years old
Birth Date: September 18, 2082 Ano Domini (Gregorian reckoning)
Ashton Anchors
Race: Expelian
Gender: Male
Age: 20 years old
Birth Date: September 28, 2085 Ano Domini (Gregorian reckoning)
Precis F. Newman
Race: Expelian
Gender: Female
Age: 16 years old
Birth Date: February 29, 2089 Ano Domini (Gregorian reckoning)
Dias Flac
Race: Expelian
Gender: Male
Age: 25 years old
Birth Date: August 5, 2080 Ano Domini (Gregorian reckoning)
Noel Chandler
Race: Nedian
Gender: Male
Age: 24 years old
Birth Date: February 16, 2081 Ano Domini (Gregorian reckoning)
Chisato Madison
Race: Nedian
Gender: Female
Age: 22 years old
Birth Date: October 22, 2083 Ano Domini (Gregorian reckoning)
Chapter 1: Marooned
Ten thousand lightyears from Gaia. Cramped in a tin can for eight months. Four years and four months left to go. I should never have come.
Nineteen-year-old Claude Kenni stared sadly at the drab wall of his cell. That's what the tiny cabin aboard the United Nations Star Ship Calnus felt like. It had been eight months since he had left the planet Gaia on a five-year journey of exploration. Since then, they had been under way, coasting through space at many times the speed of light. The ship had not stoped since then. There was nothing to see anyway.
Claude's father, the famous United Nations Naval Aviation commander Ronixis Kenni, had said that most of the stars closer to Sol's position had already been explored in the early days of fusion drive. To reach the unexplored regions, starships had to travel longer, although they were extremely limited to how long they could linger before returning to Gaia.
When his father first offered him the chance to travel aboard the Calnus, he'd accepted the offer with great enthusiasm. Claude, who had been a cadet in the UN Aviation Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, had always dreamed of going into space2. Both his parents had already flown: his father as a commander, and his mother as a chief scientist. Their stories, especially of their weird adventure on the distant planet of Roak, had fueled Claude's imagination of space exploration. The great works of fiction from the twentieth century be they books, videos, or computer games also inspired Claude to desire an excursion to the distant planets beyond Sol.
Once aboard the Calnus, things suddenly went to hell. Half the crew took an instant dislike to Claude. "Spoiled brat," they called him. They thought that since Claude was the mission commander's son, he was only in because of daddy. The other half accepted Claude, but placed him on a scale against his father, always comparing father and son. It was as if they expected Claude to live up to his father's great place in aerospace history. Claude knew that was ludicris.
His father was a legend! He'd foiled a plot by the Resistance to build a ballistic missile submarine by single-handedly destroying thier ship yards in an A-25N naval Frogfoot. At age 28, he'd commanded his mission to Roak. During the Jewish Revolt, when Claude was only three years old, Ronixis had spearheaded Operation Phonecian Storm when United Nations forces attacked the Palastinian coast in a drive to crush the Jewish rebels and thier fundementalist Christian allies. He had nearly one thousand air-to-air kills to his credit: thirty in the A-25N, seventy in an F-27N naval Flanker, and the rest in an F-35C naval Lighting. All were awed by his presence3.
Despite the gratitude and excitement Claude felt for going into space, a sense of guilt still hovered over him. Claude knew he wasn't space worthy. Only a select few went to space without going through the training center in the Balkanor Cosmodrome, Kazacistan. These were chosen based on importance to the mission – mainly scientists like his mother – or on certain personal charactoristics. Claude knew he'd never be a scientist. His father would never allow it. Claude was to follow in his father's footsteps as a pilot and an officer. Claude's personality did not match the requirements of being a strong leader, mentally mature, nor socially commanding. It was his father's exploiting of loopholes and promising to swing votes in the United Nations General Assembly toward the space program that got Claude onto the roster.
The fact that the Calnus' interior was so cramped, added to the mental strain on Claude. Each of the crew modules were only as wide as could fit aboard a standard heavy launch vehicle; unlike the fuel tanks, which were assembled from sheets of titanium and lead in orbit. The daily regimin of steroids and exercise to prevent muscle atrophy in the constant state of zero gravity did little to boost Claude's sinking moral. They only reminded him that he was trapped.
"Attention," the intercom suddenly barked. "All hands assemble in the community module. Now!"
Could it be wondered Claude. My imprisonment, over at last? With a mighty heave, he launched himself across the room. He siezed his uniform coat as he sailed out the automatic door, and then caught himself on one of the handholds in the hallway. Propeling himself with the handgrips, Claude flew down the hall like Superman. It was the only sense of freedom he had in this hellish place.
The community module was crowded by the time Claude floated in. His eyes scaned the crowd for his only friend aboard. He quickly spotted her, a woman named Adella. Of course, who wouldn't. She had to be the hottest woman aboard the Calnus. With her long brown hair and enormous breasts, she looked more suited to modeling lingere and bikinis than rotting aboard a starship. Claude waved to her, and floated up next to her.
"May I join you?" he asked in Parisian French, trying to sound cool. It did no good. Just looking at Adella made him giddy and touge tied.
"Certainly, Claude," giggled Adella, "You know you're always welcome." Claude grasped the handhold nearest Adella, and stared at her cleavage untill his father floated into the room, and took his place at the front. The meeting commenced.
"Good morning!" he began in English, the universal lanuage of the United Nations. "I am pleased to announce: this is the moment you all have been waiting for. We make planet fall in two hours!" Cheers erupted from the assembled crew. Ronixis continued, "Our first stop is the barren world of Milocinia. It is similar to Mercury, as it has no atmosphere, but is about the size of Gaia or Venus4. From there, we will proceed to other star systems, in search of new planets and rescources.
"Now why are we stopping at Milocinia? Radio telescopes in Scotland, Austrailia, and New Mexico have detected electromagnetic radiation emiting from the planet systen. A survey by the Trailblazer Extrasolar Planet Probe confirmed that the radiation pulses come from the planet itself, not the parent star. I have a list pinned to the wall of all those whom I am taking with me to explore the planet's surface. In the mean time, I expect everyone to assume your normal flight duties." Ronixis paused for a few seconds before adding, "We are also going to stop at the planet Roak, after the excursion to Milocinia. I'm sure everyone will agree with a bit of fresh air, fresh water, and fresh food."
Claude had to agree with his father. The food aboard the Calnus was freeze dried, and the water and air was recycled – meaning sewage was treated into potable water, and carbon dioxide separated into breathable oxygen. Not a very pleasant fact to think about. The meeting was presently adjurned, and everyone drifted off their separate ways.
Claude headed toward where the list for the expidition was posted. Just as he had hoped, his name was listed. Excitement surged through his body. Now we're talking! Even if Milocinia was a lifeless ball of rock, it would provide excelent experience for further adventures to Roak and beyond. Claude shot off into the hallway, occasionally doing flips in his joy.
"Claude!"
Claude turned around in mid spin, to see Adella floating up toward him.
"What's up?" Claude responded, surprised that Adella wanted his attention right now. She almost never called him first.
"Hey Claude," Adella began in Mexican Spanish. Her voice had a strange, seductive sounding voice, "I saw you looking at the Captain's roster. Is he taking you on that expidition or something?"
"Yeah," replied Claude, "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I was thinking, that after you come back, we could… you know… get to know eachother a little better."
"Does that mean what I think it means?" asked Claude in a mixture of suspicion and excitement. The mischevious gleam in Adella's eyes answered for him. "In that case, I'd love to 'get to know eachother better.'"
"Well that's just what I wanted to hear!" smiled Adella, and suddenly gave Claude a quick kiss on the lips. She giggled as he blushed bright red. "I'll see you 'tonight' then," she called as she floated off to her post. Claude couldn't answer his mind was reeling in delight. Going on his first expidition, and having sex for the first time in his life (with the girl he had only dreamed about of all women): all in half an hour! Is this my lucky day or what, he thought as he streaked down the corridor to his cabin.
The planet Milocinia was indeed a barren world. Massive craters dotted the landscape where asteroids and comets had slamed into the surface. The planet's core was solid, generating no magnetic field, and leaving the surface exposed to deadly solar radiation. There was no atmosphere, and no signs of life. However, like Mars, there were signs life had once existed. Water sculpted channels, fossilized plants, animals, and bacteria all told tales of a world once inhabited by as great a diversity as Gaia. Curious craters – filled with elements similar to the type formed by the decay of radioactive deposites of nuclear explosions – dotted the landscape, occupying strategic positions in valleys, mountains, and along dried ocean basins. Cities consumed by an ancient nuclear holacaust? Possibly, but so far, there were no signs suggesting life forms of the intelligence needed to create atomic weapons or their delivery systems. In fact, aside from the fossils, there was no sign life ever existed on this world.
Claude shifted the weight of his pack. With its dense, solid core, the planet had ten percent more mass than Gaia, and by Gaian reckoning, Claude's pack was heavy. Not only did he carry his life support system, but also emergency supplies, his sleeping bag, and a machine pistol with twenty cartriges of ammunition. Over-kill, yes. But Claude's imagination was full of possibilities. What if hostile aliens were also exploring the planet? What if the shuttle could not lift off? What if someone got injured? Yet after half an hour of trudging across a landscape more barren than Gaia's moon, Luna, Claude wanted nothing more than to return to the Calnus and Adella. Just thinking about it makes me horny.
"Alright people," grunted Ronixis through his headset. "Everybody take a breather." The weary crew, fruitlessly searching for the source of the strange radiation for half an hour, gratefully collapsed on the ground.
Claude slumped down against a rock face. He was tired and exhuasted. He felt hot in his space suit, and very uncomfortable. To amuse himself, he took his compass out of one of the suit's pockets. With no magnetic fields, he knew the device was useless, but it was fun to experiment anyway. The needle pointed west as soon as Claude looked at it. He shook the compass, and was mildly surprised when the needle settled again – still facing west. Next, he took out his pen knife, and held it close to the compass. The needle immediately spun to face the direction of the metal. Removing the knife, Claude was shocked to find the needle shooting back to the west. Huh?
"Hey da- I mean, Captain," Claude said, tapping his father's suit. The golden visor of his father's helmet faced him. "Shouldn't a compass needle not point to any particular direction when there is no magnetic field present?"
"It should," replied Ronixis.
"Look," Claude said, and held his knife to the compass. "The needle faces east, but remove the metal…"
"The needle shoots west," finished Ronixis. "That can't be! Unless…" He turned to the chief scientist in the party. "What sort of elements are present in the surface? Any iron?" he asked in German.
"Nien, herr Captain," answered the scientist.
"Then run a scan of the area facing that way," ordered Ronixis pointing in the general direction of "west." The scientist did as he was told. His eyebrows probably lept in surprise, but what the visor blocked, his voice revealed.
"Gotthiemel! There appears to be a strong magnetic field over there!" he exclaimed. Everyone jumped up in excitement.
"Well done, Claude!" praised Ronixis in pride at his son's observation. "Who'd a'thought a simple compass could detect such a thing as that? We might be that much closer to the radiation source!" He spoke in French, his native language. Since most of the people in the expidition did not know French, it was safe for Ronixis to praise Claude all he wanted without adding to the existing feelings of animosity that some crew felt towards his son. The group of astronouts waddled as fast as they could in their bulky space suits. The German scientist lead the way, his instrument displaying the intensity of the magnitic field. Gradualy other types of radiation were picked up: ultra-violet, infrared, gamma, even cosmic; and soon, visible light.
"The source seems to be coming from right – there!" he reported as the group crested a ridge. Everyone gazed at what lay at its base. The shattered remains of a dome like structure sat in the center of a crater. The scientific instruments showed that it emited strong pulses of radiation from deep inside its interior.
"Is it just me, or is that thing artificial?" an Iranian woman named Fatimid asked in Arabic.
"I think we should advance with caution, captian," boomed Ronixis' first mate, a big Nigerian named Dagboo.
"You're right about that," Ronixis replied. "That thing doesn't look natural at all." This is beginning to remind me of my encounter on Roak, he added mentally. The group slowly approached the dome, and entered through a breach in it's walls. Inside, the dome was suprisingly empty. All it contained was a small circular platform, with a strange glowing stone sticking out of the side.
"This stone appears to be the source of the radiation," observed the German after circling the object twice.
"That's stupid!" snorted Claude. "How can something that small emit rays visible for lightyears?" He steped onto the platform, and stared at it.
"I suggest you stand back from that," warned Ronixis. "It could be dangerous." He remembered his own experiences with strange objects that appeared to be alien made. Most of the time, they were, and usually were very dangerous.
"What could possibly happen?" asked Claude cockily.
To this day, no one knows exactly what happened. Suddenly, Claude saw every visor in the room focus on him.
"What?" he asked nonchalantly.
"By Allah," gasped Fatimid, "You're... you're..."
"Claude, get out of there!" screamed Ronixis in alarm.
"What?" asked Claude again, and glanced at his arm. He was surprised when he noticed he was sparkling, almost like the guys about to be beamed up in the Star Trek series. "What the fuck?"
Suddenly, pain unlike any other enveloped Claude. It felt like every atom in his body was being broken into individual neutrons, protons, and electrons. A blinding light filled the room, washing out all shapes. Claude let out a cry that sounded like a mixture of a roar and a scream. The last sound he heard over his radio, was his father scream, "No!" Then, he blacked out.
1. Gregorian reckoning is based off of the Julian calender, and is the standard calender of Gaia. It was developed by the Roman Catholic Church to ensure certain religious holidays stayed within their aloted time. For a full explanation, the Demented Tiger recomends you to take a look at your day planner or calender.
2. According to the video game canon, Claude is a member of a stereotypical stellar navy. According to the Demented Tiger, he is training to be a member of a conventional navy – particularly a fighter pilot. His duty will primarily be to pilot a naval fighter jet off the deck of an old fashioned flat-top ship, and engage targets in the atmosphere. Being an astronaut will, in all practicality, make him look good, allowing him to climb the chain of command faster.
3. According to the Demented Tiger, although the Roak incedent proceeds almost according ot game canon, at the end, Ronixis and Ira swear an oath of secrecy with the crew of their spaceship. They docter their account of the Roak incedent to omit all mention of the Rezonians, Farrgutians, and Fellpools. Thus, Ronixis does not become very famous for his Roak exploits – Ira does for containing the "stone disease." Ronixis' fame comes as a result of his terrestrial exploits.
4. An airless, waterless Milocinia. The away team needs space suits to explore it. What can be said? Space suits look cool!
The Demented Tiger would appreciate reviews, as this is his first story published. Please, no insulting ones. Be polite and civil. The action begins next month, when Claude comes to after his horrendous experience. Where is he? What happened? What will he find? Will he ever get home?