Time/Date +317 Years after the Fall
"Unofficial" First Age of Reclamation
Orbit of Venus
"So, how much longer are we going to wait?" A rather annoyed Human asks from the cockpit of his Arcadia-class jumpship. "It's been three hours, I'm getting bored.." He looks it, too. Half-asleep after helping clear out a Vex bunker for the fourth time today. Any other time, he'd be in the right. Unfortunately for the Exo that has to listen to him complain, he's not.
"He's just having a bit of trouble integrating that replacement drive. He's lucky that's all he has to do after that last approach. Thought he'd have to hitch a ride with one of us after his Kestrel took those hits to the drive." Glowing purple photoreceptors, the closest thing an Exo has to eyes narrow in thought. "It really shouldn't be taking this long, though." As he swings about in his own Regulus-class ship, he scans local space once more to figure out if something's wrong.
"Ty if you want to keep waiting, that's on you. I'm getting hungry, gonna see if I can find a place that does a decent Philly cheese steak when we get back. I'll see…wait, is that him?"
"It's about time. I was about to go down and transmat him against his will if it took much longer." Ty says, annoyance filtering through the slightly mechanical sound of his voice.
"Yeah yeah. Sorry about that, my Ghost wanted to take a couple extra scans. Try to make sure this thing won't blow up when we flip the switch." An Awoken says from the pilot's seat of the Kestrel-class ship.
"Yeah, that shouldn't happen as long as we switch this drive out as soon as we hit the Tower. I barely trust it as is, Guardian." The ever-present Ghost says from the Awoken's side.
"Right, right. As soon as we get back." He answers. "So, what are your plans when we get back? Dom?"
"Like I was saying, try to get some decent grub. Ain't right when a guy can't get a good meal." Dom, the human, answers with a smirk.
"Probably try to read more about the wildlife of Venus, some history of Mars, the usual." Ty replies. "And you?"
"Try to get some sleep, probably. Maybe see how the latest Crucible matches went. Heard there was an Iron Banner challenge on the Moon." Telc replies.
"Ok Guardians, the drives are charged and ready to go." Each of our Ghosts say at the same time. Creepy little bastards they are.
"Ok guys, see you in orbit." Telc says as he hits the switch for the Warp engine. The calm blue light of a Warp tunnel envelops his ship. Everything seems normal.
"See, worried all that time for nothing." He really should have kept his mouth shut. Almost as soon as he's done talking, a strange rattling starts near the back of the ship. The tunel starts to fray, bits of red entering on the sides.
"What the hell? What's happening?"
"Unknown. Looks like…Some kind of surge in the drive! Hang on Guardian, this is going to be…Interesting!"
"Define 'Interesting.'"
"Oh god oh god we're all gonna die?"
"Ah crap." Telc says with a straight face before morphing into one of panic. Strapping in as best he can, he turns. "Is there anything you can do?"
"Try to shut down the drive, but that could shatter the whole ship and leave us drifting for eternity. Still a better option than waiting for inevitable death when the drive tears a hole in the verse."
"Ok, do it. We'll see how much Lady Luck loves me."
"Shutting off the drive in 5." The ship seems to shake even worse. "4" The whine of the warp drive takes on a tone like the shrieking of the damned. "3" The tunnel, more red than blue at this point, seems to stretch into the infinite. "2" Time seems to slow down. "1" Things seem to freeze.
"Your Destiny shall take you far from here, Guardian. Use my Light to show them the way to fight the Darkness, whatever form it takes." A voice, or a chorus of voices seems to speak in the moment between seconds. It fades, but an impression of duty seems to imprint on Telc. And then it all goes to hell as the universe seems to cease to exist for a moment.
Time/Date [ERROR] Anomaly
Location Unknown
In a burst of light, a ship is flung from a red tear in reality. Spinning, completely out of control while several small explosions cover the hull.
".uar..an…Gua..ian…an... me, Guardian? Come on, you can't die now!"
"What…the hell was that? Strange voice…"
"Voice? What? Never mind. No time, Guardian. The warp drive is gone…nothing left, main and secondary engines offline, tertiary attitude jets barely functional, main power on the fritz, and we're on fire!" Ghost says, just a bit of panic in his voice.
"Ok, ok…lemme get my helmet on and…Ok vent the ship, reset the reactor, and see what you can do about those engines. I'll try to straighten us out with the jets." As the air drains from the ship, the Ghost proceeds to try to do as I ask. Trying to straighten out a ship doing Immelman turns with nothing but attitude jets is not easy, or fun. As I try for the seventh time, a shudder runs through the ship.
"Guardian, I've got limited power back, and the secondary engines are now online. I wouldn't push them too hard." Ghost reports, sounding tired for once. Must have taken a lot out of him, I guess.
"You alright? You don't seem to be doing too well." I ask, a bit of concern in my voice.
"I can't feel it. My link to the Traveler, it's gone." He says, panic definitely settling in. To be honest, me too. The way he explained it once, all Ghosts are linked to the Traveler. It's what allows them to bring us back time after time. If its gone, chances are so are my redo's. More than that, if the Traveler's gone, or so far away he can't feel it, where the hell were we?
"Looks like short range scans are picking up a moon, Guardian. You may wish to start broadcasting a distress call." Morosely, like he's not expecting any answer at this point.
I ignore his mood and start broadcasting, hoping against hope. It seems an ill hope, for the computer doesn't recognize any constellations.
"Mayday, mayday, mayday. Emergency code 2-4-1-10. I repeat, emergency code 2-4-1-10. My ship is damaged and I require assistance. Is there anyone out there?" I turn to the Ghost. "Any signs?"
The Ghost pauses, as if unsure. "Nothing recognizable Guardian, but I am reading signals coming from the planet behind the moon…" He stops as if in shock, all sections paused. "Guardian, you may wish to look out the window…"
I stare, confused at the Ghosts sudden shift. I look out, and what I see stops me in my metaphorical tracks.
"What in the name of…?" Where our moon was whole, this one looked like an angry godling had kicked part of it and sent pieces skittering off behind it. It was almost artistic, if it wasn't so horrifying. "Ghost, please tell me I'm not seeing this. Better yet, please tell me that isn't the Hellmouth." The home of the Hive, the Hellmouth was the stuff of my nightmares. If this was the end result, my nights just got much worse.
"Luckily, no sign. Of any kind of civilization on the moon. Give me a few minutes to try to get long-range on." Ghost replies, and I let out a thankful sigh. Horrifying as that was, better a natural disaster than whatever the Hive were cooking up. "Just about…Got it! Confirming signs of life on the nearby planet, but again, no recognizable signs. No debris belt, either."
"Ok, so we have a goal at least. How long would it take us to get to the planet?"
"Roughly? About four days at our best possible speed. Hopefully we can get some more detailed scans before then." Four days? Hopefully we can get some systems repaired in that time.
"Right, set a course. Let's try to get some of this crap fixed before then." I say, with a heavy sigh, as I reach for my repair kit.
Time/Date Anomoly + Six Days
Orbit of Unknown Planet
Well, it took a bit longer than we hoped, but we made it. Engine damage was worse than we thought, so we had to shut down for a day as I went E.V.A. to fix some conduit damage. Either way, we're here and currently scanning the planet to find a decent place to land. Turns out, it's inhabited! Unfortunately, it seems that they have no concept of space travel, so it doesn't look like we'll have much luck finding a warp drive. No sign whatsoever of the Traveler, for good or ill. Ghost says he'd be able to "feel" the "resonance" of it's death, so I'm guessing that's a good thing.
"Any progress? This thing doesn't feel like it's going to last much longer out here." I ask, a bit nervous at the thought of trying to land at this point. Most of what we've done are patch jobs, quick repairs with whatever we have available.
"A few locations look promising, take a look."
I do so, and the first thing I see is pretty much suicide.
"You can't seriously expect me to just land in the capital of…what is it, Vale? And expect me not to get shot." Seriously, is he trying to get me killed?
"You wanted options, there they are. If not there, I still suggest landing on that continent. It seems to be a midpoint between most of these 'kingdoms'." I give him that point.
"Ok, but is there somewhere out of the way, far enough from the city that we can avoid locals, but close enough we can still get there relatively easy?" He spins and seems to check over the options available.
"Well, there does seem to be an old quarry/mine in this forest." On screen, a field of red-leaved trees appears.
"Interesting. Any dangers?" I ask, a smirk full of confidence appearing on my face.
"Seems like the forest is full of what they call 'Grim,' whatever they are. Think you're up to the challenge?" He asks, already knowing my answer.
"Ok, bring us in, as low as you can. We don't want local attention, not yet at least." With that, we enter onto an approach vector. I can almost hear a voice as we enter the upper stratosphere.
Welcome to Remnant, Guardian.
So, that's chapter two. Please let me know what you think in a review. Thanks.