Chapter 1
Deep within the void of space, rotating around a distant sun, they waited, conjoined, as they drifted as if for all eternity. They had been abandoned long ago by their creators, and now, with both their builders and crews longs dead, they lay forgotten and had since fallen deeply into disrepair during the span of many centuries that had passed since human eyes had last lain their sights upon them.
One of them, the Von Braun, was once regarded as the height of human achievement. Since its abandonment ages ago it could now be considered, at most, a relic from a time-gone bye. As it now floated through the cold depths of space, it was hard to imagine that it had once held the fate of the universe within its construction.
Its smaller companion, the Rickenbacker, was once an advanced military ship before certain events saw to it that it would never function again, at least for humans, that is. It was now permanently attached to its 'better' via a large fossilized growth of biomass belonging to a long dead species that once almost proved a major threat to humanity before it had been stopped, or so it was believed.
They both now lay in orbit, forever destined to be forgotten, or would have been, had not the endeavors of humans once again brought them within their sights. For all their advances, they had remained ignorant to the mistakes of forefathers and would thus continue to venture into the foreboding unknown, whether they should have or not, and because of this, they were about to reawaken a long forgotten evil.
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It all began with a simple navigation error. The Galactic Federation ship, the Aaru, had been traveling along a hyperspace route during a routine patrol when its navigational computers malfunctioned, forcing the Olympus-class battleship to rely on sub-light engines till repairs were made, or else risk crashing into space debris and likes, something that could be potentially devastating at the speeds it had been moving at.
It was then that the ships long range sensors picked up a large ship of unknown origins. Knowing his duty, the ship's captain, Diosa Richards, sent a coded message back to command detailing their location and current events. Receiving orders to investigate the ship, they moved within range of it so that detailed scans could be taken of it.
As the Aaru came within range of the source, its crew soon realized that what had at first been mistaken for a particularly large ship was in fact a pair of smaller ones conjoined by some strange matter that their sensors indicated was of unknown biological origin. Their sensors also detected unusual biological readings coming from within the larger of the two ships, though its thick hull scrambled most of their readings.
It was decided by the ship's Aurora Unit that a boarding party would be sent aboard, but it was quickly discovered that due to the great age of the ships their hangars were not designed to hold boarding ships of the GF's size and design. This development thus required a more risky solution; they would have to directly connect both ships.
Within the hour the Aaru had connected itself directly to the Von Braun, and a boarding party was already making its way aboard it. Their task was to first secure the two ships and reinitiate the ships power systems before finally locating the source of the biosignatures. They had no idea of what unspeakable horrors they were about to unleash upon the galaxy.
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3 days later.
Panting and running down a bloodstained hallway, a pair of marines were attempting to escape an unseen foe. As the lights in the hallway behind them flickered on and off before going out, hiding whatever was after them from sight, though its bloodcurdling roars echoed forward as it was quickly closing the distance between itself and them.
One of the marines tripped on a broken pipe, and before he could get back onto his feet, something from within the confines of the shadows latched onto his leg and dragged him back into the darkness where his horrified screams where cut short by the sound of metal and bones breaking.
The other marine paid little attention to this, so overcome with fear was, and merely turned around to fire off a few rounds at his unseen pursuer. Whatever it was seemed to shrug off the attack effortlessly, and then continued to charge after him. Its blood curdling roars continued to echo forth, and just as it was upon the marine he hit a panel beside him, causing a thick steel door to slide down between them instantly.
Turning around, the marine saw something that caused his blood to run cold. He and his partner had headed for this area due to the maps they carried indicated that the ships escape pods were located here. They were gone... and he was trapped. A sudden crash caused him to turn towards the sealed door as something struck against it.
Putting his back to the wall, the horrified marine slowly raised his weapon as he cowered in the corner of the sealed in room. The door before him was suddenly dented inwards as whatever was on the other side pounded upon it with an animalistic fury. Overcome with an intense, primal fear, the marine watched on in horror as the door was slowly torn apart piece by piece. He knew they were coming for him, and that nothing was going to stop this now. Slowly raising his weapon towards his head, a thought occurred to him. He knew now that they would not have him... he was going to deny them that pleasure.
