FTL: Faster Then Light

Amongst the Stars

A FanFict based off of the Indy game: FTL

By Indogma.

Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fan based story. The contents of the story are owned by Subset Games. In no way do the views shown reflect the views of Subset Games. Please support the official release.

The sound of war was traveling through space. The sound of lasers powering up, missiles clicking into their launcher and the hum of a beam charging, all of theses seemed to accompany the sound of a lone sentence that passed through the galaxy: "President Milton was dead."

Presently, the Federation was the verge of civil war as it was. The major two parties of the Federation's Parliament were on the verge of breaking towards each other. Only the Adam Milton was strong enough to help both parties seek peace. Now it was two late, Milton had been found dead in his chambers a week ago, he had died from the stress of his job which had weakened his heart. And now, what would happen was up in the air. Who would lead?

But the question was not answered. One of the two parties the Republic Entrepreneurs Behind Equal Laboring Services, or the REBELS decided to take the initiative. Without notice their army allies raided a Federation ship depot and captured more then a hundred ships for their cause. Now the Federalist party tried to stop them by arresting their figure head, General Braken, but instead the REBELS acted first and arrested most of the parliament and now held them in prison.

The point of words is long past now: now only conflict will end this. Between the Federation and the REBELS.

-FTL: Amongst the Stars-

Prologue

Harris Breg moved his collar away from his neck, letting some air into his uniform. He then grunted annoyed, he hated the Federation's formal uniform. It was heavy, itch and uncomfortable, and the longer he stayed in it the more he sweated. As he walked up the hallway to the Admiral's office, he sighed softly and kept walking. He had expected this. And in short he was happy the day had come.

Promotion. That was the word that was on his mind right now. He had been a captain for the Federation for about twenty years now and was in the peers of his group that were looked at for promotion. And with the new conflict, half of the fleet's men and officers had left the Federation, leaving plenty of open vacancies for seasoned officers like him. That had to be the reason why the Admiral was calling him.

Arriving at the end of the hallway, Harris touched the button of the side of the door and then the stainless steel doors opened to reveal a lobby with a young women sitting behind a screen pressing keys, she was the Admiral's secretary. She saw Harris and asked, "Hello sir. May I help you?" "Captain Harris Breg, here to see Admiral Gregson." The woman nodded and typed away again at her monitor. She them motioned him to take a seat on one of the chairs to wait for a reply, and Harris sat quietly. The room was quiet, the only noise that seemed to break the aura of silence was the woman's typing on the monitor.

After a minute of nothing, the secretary turned and looked at the captain. He was tall, thin, and his face showed many years in the service of the Federation. He had a touch of grey on the sides of his head, but the lady could tell he was barely 45 years old. Then a message appeared on her screen, "Send him in." "The Admiral will see you now," she said. Harris then stood up and walked passed the lady and entered into the Admiral's office.

Admiral of the Fleet Paul Chen Gregson stood with his back to the Captain, staring out at the window in to the wilderness of the planet of Lewvin. Harris, unsure of whether or not the Admiral knew he was there, so he said, "You sent for me, sir?" The Admiral responded, "Yes I did Breg. Take a seat," said the Admiral not turning around. The captain sat in a seat in front of the desk, and did not say anything else. For what seemed like ages either one stirred from their silence.

Then the Admiral broke the tranquility and turned to sit back into his chair. "I suppose you are here under the impression of promotion." "Yes sir," said Harris. The Admiral smiled, he always knew Harris to be blunt and brutally honest. Gregson then closed his eyes and sighed, "Well I am afraid that is not why I called you here. The board has denied your promotion." Harris then inhaled deeply and said, "Why? Why would they deny my promotion to rear Admiral?" "I do not know the specifics Breg. But I believe the reason was to give you one final assignment before you are promoted." "And what would that be?"

The Admiral then grabbed a file from his desk and handed it to the Captain. "The board decided not to promote you until you complete one more mission. And this it the mission. We are calling it Operation: Massager's Satchel."

"What is the just of the mission," asked Harris taking the file.

"You will be carrying a hard drive with all of the info that we have learned form the rebel fleet to the egg heads at Dexter Prime, were they will look for a weakness in the REBEL fleet." "I'm to carry information?" Asked Harris, almost insulted. "It is vital importance, Captain Breg. This information could be the thing that ends the entire war." The Admiral then added, "I recommended you for this mission because you are a reliable officer. We need someone who can get it done."

Harris sighed deeply. It seemed like he was given the mission with no alternative. "What is my ship? A Federation Cruiser?"

The Admiral shook his head, "Normally we would assign the best ship for the task. But the rebel fleet is closing quickly, and we need all the fire power here. So we will be giving you an alternative ship."

"A relic," countered Breg.

"Not as old as you think, you remember the class of ship called the Kestrel?" Breg nodded, "yes. They decommissioned form service a few years ago." "Well they have been updated. Yours is called the Good Tidings."

Harris bit is lip with anger, but then he sighed his anger out with frustration. "When do I leave sir?"

"At 16:00. About six hours from now." Harris nodded, "And the crew? Who do I have with me?"

"Apart from you? Two others will be joining you." "Just two?!" Asked the captain. The Admiral nodded, understand why the captain would outburst. "We are short on man power at the moment. We could only spare a green lieutenant fresh from academy and a service man." "You do realize that it is standard to have four people on every vessel right. Only the Engi are the ones to use drones for everything else."

"As I said, captain. We are short on man power." The captain then sighed and opened the file for the first time and read the mission briefing, when something cause his eye, the path they were to take. It was through the uncharted parts of the space, outside the Federation's boundaries. The other path would require only a few jumps to Dexter Prime, but the other would take weeks.

"Why am I to take this path to Dexter Prime?"

"Because the Rebels have heavy patrols all along the path, but not along the way we entailed in the briefing. It's the safest way, believe me."

The Admiral then stood up and returned to his spot, and said, "I cannot stress the importance of his mission Breg. I have done everything I can for you to prepare you to succeed. Your ship is armed with what we could spare. You will have to buy, beg, borrow or steal everything else you need."

The captain then stood and sighed, "I know Gregson. You have been good to me. Will that be all?"

"Yes, report to your ship, and do prelaunch checks." The captain then clicked his heels to salute the Admiral. Then he turned to leave, but the Admiral stopped him, "Harris," he then turned and saw the Admiral looking over his shoulder and smiling, "Good luck…" The Captain nodded, and left though the door. The Admiral then turned and looked below at the ships that were being serviced by maintenance teams. "For all of our sakes, you are going to need it."

The Admiral knew that the ships below would not be able to stand up against the incoming attack, and would be cut to pieces in an instant. If Harris had stayed, he would have also been killed instantly. He was sending him on this to protect him, but he would never admit it.

Meanwhile Harris after leaving the Admiral's lobby stopped at a message post and ordered his belongings to be sent to his ship, Good Tidings. As soon as that was taken care of he then stormed to his ship, unbuttoning a few from his uniform to help his body cool. Despite having have command he was not happy about his given task. He felt cheated, although he was one of the youngest on his rank he also was one of the captains with the longest service time. He shook his head in anger: it was not fair.

Arriving at the Good Tidings, Harris was not impressed with what he saw. From what he could see the mechanics did their best to try and bring the ship as up to date as they could in a short amount of time. "Dammit," said the captain to himself.

"Are you captain Breg?" Came a voice to the side of him. Harris looked and saw a man with oil stains on his skin wearing a baseball cap to the side of him.

"I'm Lee, I worked on your ship for ya!" He smiled proudly.

"Good for you," said Harris, unimpressed. "Could you show me the specs of the ship?"

"Sure thing!" Lee then handed Harris a holograph board and a model of the ship appeared, with it's energy usage and stats. "What the hell?" Asked Harris. "Can you see that there is not enough power to run all of the systems!"

"We did the best that we could with the time that we had, sir!" Explained Lee. "It had half that power when we first got it." "What are the systems?" Asked the captain, "Level one shields, sir. Basic subsystems, med bay and oxygen along with level two engines and boosters. But it has enough juice in her to power both her weapons at the same time." "Which are?" "An Artemus missile launcher and a Burst Laser Mark II." Harris sighed to himself, it was some good news. At least they had decent weapons.

"Very well," said Harris handing back the pad back to Lee. "When the bags arrive or the one of the crew, send them to my quarters." "You got it boss!" Said Lee smiling.

The next couple of hours Harris spent looking over the ship and the systems. Despite his reservations, Harris could tell the ship was ready, and quite durable. Very few flaws in the systems. As he was checking out the engines opened and a man walked in holding a service man's bag under his arm. When he saw Harris he said, "Pardon me, man. But I think you have the wrong ship." He said with a smug smile. Harris had taken off his uniform, and donned on a green t-shirt.

Harris then corrected the man, "I have the right ship, serviceman. I'm Captain Harris Breg. I know I am in the right place."

The man then dropped his bag and saluted, "Sir! I meant no disrespect!"

"Never mind that." Harris then examined the serviceman. He could tell he was green, a fresh recruit. He had saggy red hair and a soul patch under his lips. "Name and rank," order Harris. "Sir, Serviceman Walker Bere! Third Serviceman, Sir." The lowest rank, Harris sighed, he knew it.

"At easy, Bere." The man then relaxed, and Harris continued, "I do not believe in formality in everything we do ok? Rank and saluting take time and I really do not see the point. Call me Harris and I will call you Walker. As long as you do your job, and do it well, we will get along just fine. Got it?" "Yes sir!" "What are your perquisites?"

Walker gave a confused looked, "What are you good at? Weapons? Shields? Engineering? Piloting?" "Uh, sir I join a mere few months ago. This is the first action I have ever seen in any ship." "I see," sighed Harris. He then gave up hope that Walker would have a silver lining about him. "Go step up your quarters. We depart in three hours ok?" The man nodded, "Yes sir." Grabbing his bag, Walker then ran passed Harris and into the ship.

After an hour, Harris's belongings had arrived and Lee brought them on to the ship and to Harris's quarters. While unpacking his items the door opened and a young woman, not older then twenty-five, with brown standard female military haircut walked into the room, looked at Harris and saluted him.

"Sir! Evera Salina Quenant. Second Lieutenant reporting for duty sir!" Harris paused for a second, but continued to unpack not addressing the lieutenant. After a minute of setting stuff into it place he notice that the girl was still in the attention stance.

"You can at ease, Lieutenant." The girl then stepped into the "at ease" stance. Harris sighed, trained to the order, that is what the space academy did. "So you are my lieutenant? Is that correct?"

She nodded, "Yes sir, I came directly here from the academy." She then passed on a file to Harris and said, "Here is my file sir. You will find it up to date." Harris took it and leaned on his desk and read the file, it was the girl's entire academy transcript. From her grades all the way from when see started. Looking over then Harris saw a pattern: they were all top marks. He looked at her and smiled, she was the one good news he had all day. She was qualified. But he looked deeper at the file, it turns out there was more to the file: she had chosen to go on the advance track. That meant she did not receive any specific training, so in short she was as green as the serviceman. He then sighed, "They just enjoy make my job more difficult," he said to himself.

"Alright," said Harris handing the file back to her, "As I said to the other crew member, I am not big on formality. Call me Harris, ok?" She then nodded, although she looked confused, "yes sir." "Settle yourself in and we will meet at the bridge thirty minutes before take off. Understand?"

The girl nodded and saluted, "Yes sir!" And she then quickly left the room. When she was gone, Harris shook his head gravely. He had an eager to please lieutenant and a serviceman who seemed to be along for the ride. This mission could not get any worse.

He then took out a photo from his luggage, and placed it on the desk. It had a golden frame and on the top it had a name engraved on the frame: "Chelsy." In the frame was the picture of a beautiful woman with bright blonde hair, and a bight smile on her face. "Soon," he whispered.

When everything was triple checked, and the time was thirty minutes before take off, two of them met in the bridge finding the third captain already in the pilot's seat. As they crammed into the bridge, Harris then turned is chair and looked at them unimpressed. "First I want to reintroduce myself, my name is captain Harris Breg. And what I say goes on this ship. Now as I told you: I am not big on formalities just call me Harris and I will call you what you like got it?" The two of them nodded. "Now," continued Harris, "this ship is undermanned as it is. That means we all will be doing more then our share of work. So we all will be everything. Got it?" "Yes, sir," They both replied. "Good, now weapons come first. Does anyone have any experience in the field of weapons?"

Walker then raised his hand sheepishly, "I fired a gun back at home once sir." "Good enough, you will be in charge of the armory." He then looked at the lieutenant and asked, "Which would you prefer? Engines or Shield?" "Sir," replied the girl robotically, "Shields have more value then engines in a fight, according to out simulations back at the academy." "Shields it is then." The Harris sighed, "I do not expect you two to be good at what you are assigned to yet, but with time I will train as best that I can."

"Beg pardon, sir," asked the lieutenant, "But what is our mission exactly?" Harris smiled, he supposed they should at least know that much. "We are to carry this." Harris then held in his hand, a disk. "This little disk contains all of the data on the rebel fleet. We are to take it to a team of scientists, were they are going to try to find a weakness in the REBEL fleet." "Courier work?" Asked Walker. "Sounds easy enough." "You'd think that, but we are not going along the federation borders, instead though the uncharted space and the fringe colonies. It is apparently safer then going along the borders."

Harris then checked his watch and ordered, "Right, to your posts. Prepare for space entry." The two crew members then went to their posts and latched themselves into their seats.

After getting the all clear to take off, the Good Tidings, then went onto a runway and sped off into the sky and into space. As they passed the distance where satellites orbited; a hail can from the planet, from Admiral Gregson. Harris took the call. "Harris, I wanted to wish you luck once more." "Thanks Admiral," he then frowned, "It seems like you are asking me to do the impossible. A ship that is not even fully powered, and with a crew that has no experience in space!"

"That is why we sent you, Harris. You are the only one who could lead them. You are experienced, maybe you will rub off on them." Then the Admiral said, "I best get back to work." "Right see you on the other side Admiral." And with that the call was ended.

Harris then brought his ship to the beacon and prepared to head into FTL. After warning the crew, he charged up the FTL drive; when it was full, the ship then disappeared into the blackness that was space. And in a flash of light, the ship Good Tidings was gone.

After they had left, from the dark side of the planet, there appeared hundreds of orange space ships. The REBEL fleet had descended on the planet Lewvin.