Hello again! After commanded by the story's plot, and by a blaster pointed to my head by a blue haired andoird, we have our hero starting off chapter one. Put your hands together for chaos and our Elsa crew!
KOSMOS: Excellent. Please proceed to tell the story.
IWTV(ItWasTheVoices): You got it scary robot lady! I do not own Xenosaga or the franchise, and please read and review if you like.
C1: Dark Visions
-Elsa-
chaos springs up from the bed in a cold sweat and gasps. Taking a few minutes to calm his labored breaths, he puts a hand to his throat recalling the graphic imagery he witnessed. "A dream," chaos whispered. "It was just a dream."
The silver haired young man kept a hand around his throat with thoughts running in his head about the man in his dream. It had been awhile since he had an ominous dream like the one he experienced. Another riveting, yet disturbing dream, that now involved his old friend and rival, Wilhelm. In the hopes of making himself feel better, chaos starts to rationalize the nightmare with whatever he could think of to calm down.
He starts thinking about what had happened between them recently, the two in talks about some troubles Wilhelm had been dealing with for weeks. Despite their disagreements, chaos was more than happy to help him mend old wounds, helping him find peace with his past. He thought things were going okay since they last spoke. A long shiver runs down his spine to contradict his optimism. chaos relaxes himself, taking in a deep breath and then begins to mentally connect with Wilhelm.
Telepathy was the simple routine method of contact between the two, and chaos was overly eager to use it now more than ever. He calls out to him for several minutes. No answer comes from the other man. The shirtless boy becomes anxious, getting up from the bed in his blue pajama pants. He stretches his muscles to clear his head, turning around when he hears the intercom. "Hey chaos! If you're awake, come to the bridge. I think Tony and the Captain have got the engines working again."
He starts to change into his regular outfit, forgetting about the dark dream for a little while. Afterwards, he rushes over to the bridge, reminding himself to speak to Wilhelm after the engine problem was resolved. chaos had been bored to tears waiting for the ship to start up again, driving him to nap for several hours. The Elsa crew had been stranded on Fifth Jerusalem for a total of twelve hours now, trying to fix a sudden engine failure. chaos rushes to the bridge to see Captain Matthews sitting in his seat with anticipation.
"Come on baby! Papa wants to get out of here," the captain grips the edge of his seat with hope in his eyes. Tony gets ready to start the ship, turning the ignition. Hammer waves for chaos to come over, the two taking positions for navigating and checking the engine status.
The racing of their hearts increases when the engines start to growl. Four sets of lips turned to smiles...then with cringe worthy disappointment, the engines sets off a big boom. Their smiles turn to cartoonish frowns. chaos and the others groan when they hear the engines die down again.
"Come on! Why?!" Captain Matthews cries. A video screen appears in front of them, showing a maintenance man from the Space Port appearing on screen. The silver haired teen sighs as the four became further embarrassed by the Space Port employees forcing them to tow the ship to the mechanics bay for repairs.
The Elsa Crew waits outside and sits for another four hours waiting for the status of the Elsa. A Realian gets out of the mechanics garage where the ship was, and speaks to the crew. "Captain, your ship is definitely a mystery."
"And why's that?" The Captain grumbled.
"The mechanics working on the ship now can't pinpoint a reason for one of the engines to stop working. My supervisor would like to run a diagnostic on your ship to look for a cause."
"And how much are we-"The captain's face looms over the price tag on the repair currently. Eyes were zeroed in on the estimated price etched on the computed pad. His face goes bug eyed and his mouth hangs open like a mailbox. The middle aged man starts cursing, almost lunging at the Realian before Tony and chaos pull him away in defeat.
The Elsa crew ventures off to the food court in the Space Port, once agreeing to prices for the repairs after a long heated discussion with the lead mechanic.
"I can't believe we're stuck here," Hammer whined with his head on the food court table.
"You act like we're stuck in the boonies, dude. This is Fifth Jerusalem; we're not going to die," Tony said with a mouthful of hamburger.
"No, but I think the Captain is gonna have a stroke after he saw that price tag." Hammer points to the Captain hunched over his seat, holding his head in despair. chaos drinks his soda from his seat at the table, annoyed by the broken down ship. The silver haired teen was also disappointed, because it meant he wouldn't get back to the Kukai Foundation on time to meet Junior. The two had planned to hang out at the beach with MOMO and Shelly once he got back. 'I guess I'll have to cancel my vacation plans,' chaos thought.
Tony swallows the last bites of his fast food and overhears the breaking news over the television screen. "Hey guys, look up there." The other three look up at the screen listening to the newswoman. "Breaking news from the Federation Fleet, a Code Red security breach has been reported from its main weapons manufacturer, Vector Industries. The Federation's spokesperson for the investigation states that Vector has had a security breach on one of their largest ships, the Dammerung. The breach has reportedly put countless pieces of data exposed to those outside the company. Investigators have also reported one person unaccounted for at this time in charge of the data exposed during the leak. Unfortunately, law enforcement has declined to give further details at this time."
chaos' face is riddled with alarm as the broadcaster continued to drone on. He keeps himself steady using the table in front of him. It was just a data breach, but yet why? Why did he feel so much dread all of the sudden?
"Holy shit, a data breach AND a missing person's case on the Dammerung? Now that's definitely news," Hammer muttered with disbelief. "Ha! Yeah right. That place has got to have class 'A' security. How could anyone go missing from the ship like that without a trace? Probably just some disgruntled jackoff stealing from company info for Hymns or something," Tony laughed. chaos looked up at the news screen with apprehension. As he continued to listen in on the news broadcast, the area describing where the disappearance was reported became suspiciously familiar. 'But it couldn't be', he thought. 'It had to be someone else...right?'
Hours later after wandering around Fifth Jerusalem near the space port, the crew returns to the Elsa. The crew was successful at convincing the mechanics to let them stay on the ship to help save them money on a hotel. After all, the poor crew was destitute enough to the point they needed to save every penny they had.
Once inside the Elsa again, Captain Matthews sulks to his chair on the bridge to add up the cost of this to his debt to the Kukai Foundation. Tony and Hammer wander to the café after returning to the ship to mess with the old piano. They invite chaos along to join them, wanting to get together to have a few beers in the Elsa's café. But chaos declines and chooses to go back to bed, his anxiety over the nightmare getting the better of him.
He lies down on the bed staring up at the ceiling, when he receives a call from his phone. Looking down at his caller ID to see the middle aged samurai display on the screen. chaos answers the call, with the long black haired man appearing cheerful on a holographic image.
"Jin?" chaos started to talk.
"chaos, it's been awhile. How have you been?" The older man asked.
"I've been doing well, thanks. Is everything going okay between you and Shion lately?" chaos appeared to feel better hearing Jin's voice.
"Things could be better, but I think my sister and I are getting there. I was actually just calling to see if you were still on Fifth Jerusalem," Jin inquired.
"Reluctantly," chaos gives a defeated laugh. "Our ship is experiencing mechanical problems, so we're all stuck on the planet until the Elsa is fixed."
"How unfortunate, but I suppose it is fortunate considering the situation. chaos, I need your help with something important."
"Is it more advice on Shion?" he asked.
"No, not this time. Let's just say Representative Helmer needs us for a favor." Jin replies with a serious tone.
"What is it about?" chaos was starting to become curious as Jin starts to subtly keep silent on what it could be. He turns his head for a moment in deep thought.
"If you're available, meet me at the Dammerung tomorrow morning. I will be arriving in the morning as well, so I think it would be better if we all talk about it more in person. When you get here tomorrow, inform the administration staff you're with Helmer. They will escort you to him and the others."
"I see," chaos picks up on the older man's reluctance to say more over the chat. He nods his head with understanding, despite wanting to have more information about said situation. chaos mentally rolls his eyes at Jin playing secret agent a little too seriously with his subtle choices of words. The older man smiles at chaos when he accepts to meet up.
"Good, I look forward to seeing you. Your help, old friend, would be most appreciated given what's going on. See you tomorrow," Jin waves goodbye before ending the chat with chaos.
chaos reluctantly goes back to resting his head on the pillow. He looks up at the ceiling staring up at the lights. The young man curses his anxiety as he stares up at the ceiling, belittling the nagging in his bones that something was wrong. 'Please...just let this be just some generic data breach,' the teen groaned. Closing his eyes, chaos mentally calls out to his albino friend. Silence only greets him in the echoes of his mind. The mysterious teen lets his mind try to relax after several failed attempts to contact Wilhelm, for what he hoped would be a restful slumber.
Poor chaos, I hope he has a better dream this time before we get to the next chapter.
KOSMOS: For optimal mental alertness, he should receive an adequate eight hours worth of sleep.
IWTV: Umm, blue haired lady, I was talking about his nightmares.
KOSMOS: Target engaged...
IWTV: ...Shion!
Please Stay Tune for the Next Chapter.