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.
As the Good Tidings licks it's wounds from it's engagement, they get some advice form a strange source. Deciding to act on it Harris steers the ship and its surviving crew member towards an uncharted planet, hoping to find some good on that planet.
-Shipwrecks and Slavers-
The empty space outside of a small planet was quite and undisturbed. The small planet, yet to be named, slowly rotated around the local nearby star. Around the planet, a duo of FTL beacons orbited the planet. While untouched by the space traveling creatures of the universe, it was visited by the first servers when they spanned across the Universe planting beacons to expand the FTL Warp guiding system.
From the far off space, on of the many simmering lights began to grow brighter and larger. Then the light grew to it's largest size and seemed to hit the beacon, and instantly disappear after reaching it. On closer inspection, the source of the light was the Kestrel class ship, the Good Tidings.
"FTL JUMP SUCCESSFUL. NOW ARRIVING AT PLANET: UNNAMED NUMBER: 5432." Reported the ship's AI.
"It really does look like a backwater planet… doesn't it?" Said Lt Evera looking hard on at the planet.
"Backwater? Its like a lost land." Said Harris. "Untouched by any technology."
Evera sighed, "I hope that station owner was telling us the truth."
"We'll see," said Harris guiding the ship into orbit. When the ship was caught in the planet's orbit, Harris powered down the engines and turned on the ship's bio scanners on the planet. The station owner Tiny assured them that there were strangle life forms on that planet.
After about an hour of the ship scanning the planet, the AI reported, "UNKNOWN BIO SIGNS DETECTED ON PLANT'S SURFACE. SEARCH PARTY RECOMMENDED."
"Looks like he was right," said Harris.
"What are you planning to do Harris?" Asked the Lieutenant.
Harris leaned back in his chair and looked up into the ceiling in thought. The phrase that Tiny said played back in his mind on a loop, "Maybe you can land there and recruit one for your crew!" Surprising himself, he found the idea the most sensible, given the circumstances. The ship was already heavily undermanned as it was, could these creatures be intelligent enough to help them run their ship.
"Let's try to communicate with them," said Harris making up his mind.
The Lieutenant said nothing, Harris had already gone this far with Tiny's advice, so it came as no surprise he would follow it even further. She sighed in her mind, but understood the Captain's reasoning. They needed all the help they could get. "I will prepare the shuttle," she said leaving the bridge.
The ship had a single shuttle in one of the cargo bays. The little craft was barely big enough to fit five full people on it, excluding the flyer. It had no weapon capabilities and could not move very quick. That limited the uses of it down to transportation of crew from the ship to a planet or space station. When the shuttle was ready, the two crew members LOCKed (Life-support Override Control Key) the ship. Now the ship's life support systems would shutdown until they returned with the correct key code. Without that code, the ship's life support would not reactivate.
As Harris flew the shuttle down to the planet's service, the Lieutenant seat in the back of the craft, shaking with the turbulence; getting sick to her stomach. When the shuttle kissed the planet's surface, the two humans opened the door of their shuttle, with their hands on their weapons, just in case.
Once their eyes adjusted to the bright green sky the planet's sky painted. They saw that the strange creatures Tiny described surrounding them in a giant mob.
"Captain," whispered Evera worried.
"Easy, Evera…" Harris whispered back. "Keep calm… we are not here to cause trouble."
Harris slowly walked out of the shuttle and looked at the creatures. They were small, brightly colored, six legged horse like creatures. Neither Harris nor Evera had seen creatures like them. Harris sighed, he thought Tiny meant creatures that could have some work force value, but these creatures would not have much use on their ship, even if communication was established.
One of the creatures stepped forward, Harris assumed that creature was the "leader" for all of them.
"Greetings," said Harris raising his hand peacefully. Seeing his language not being understood, Harris then spoke in every other alien language that he knew. All not reaching the creature. When he had spoken every phrase he could think of, he turned back toward the Lieutenant and shrugged. Then the creature tugged on Harris uniform, getting his attention, and nudged him forward. Harris realized the creature was trying to show him something. He signaled Evera to follow him, and together the two followed the creature with the rest of the creatures close behind.
"He seems to want to show us something," whispered Harris.
"Yeah, but what?" Asked Evera. Harris just shrugged, and let the creature lead the two of them onwards.
After a quick hike on the planet, the creature lead the two of them to a the crash site of another ship. Harris recognized the designed. In was in the same shape of a box, which made a dead give away that it was an Engi ship. They were known as expert salvagers, and could make anything fly into space again.
"The Engi would have their work cut out for themselves here," thought Harris looking at the ship. The ship seemed to have been on this planet for a few years. Moss had begun to cover the sides, painting the ship in a hairy green.
Harris put his hands on his hip and sighed contently, there might be something of value on this ship. Making the whole trip to this planet potential worth it. "Evera," he ordered, "wait here and keep an eye on the ship, I will head back to the shuttle and fly it here. We can gather what we can from this ship and be on our way."
The lieutenant nodded, and stayed behind with the creatures while her captain walked back to their landing site. As she sat on a nearby rock, she watched as some of the creatures had begun to become more comfortable around her. They slowly lowered their guards and began to graze on the nearby vegetation around them. Some of the little ones began to rough house with each other, gnawing at their ears and kicking each other playfully.
After some time, Harris brought the shuttle to the crashed ship, and together the two of them opened one of the side doors, and entered into the ship. Inside, they were surprised to see dirt and water marks all around the interior of the ship. The ship's seals must have broken in the crash, making the panels that made up the ship leak water.
Going from room to room, Harris and Evera, kept their weapons ready just on case something was unfriendly in this ship. As the two of them visited the last of the rooms, they found the sensors room to be the first room that was not damaged from water in anyway. Harris examined the console of different machinery. Is was more advanced then the one they had currently on the Good Tidings, if they could salvage some of the devices on this ship, they could hopefully see inside their enemies' ships. A useful tool.
"Harris," said Evera from the bridge, "I found something."
Harris abandoned the Sensor room and entered the bridge with the Lieutenant. In the pilot's chair, sat a deactivated Engi. "I see you found the former captain of this ship," said Harris examining the robotic being. The Engi look completely intact, and undamaged, just unpowered. Harris then noticed why it was unpowered. On the chest of the robot, was a dark green orb. Harris had seen enough Engi's to know that it was the Engi's power source, it's dead power source.
Not much was know of the Engi, even what they consisted off, but little was know is that the Engi get their life force from the green ball in the center of the chest. It was a unlimited source of power according to the Engi, but occasionally it would overload and deactivate.
"Is that an Engi, sir?" Asked Evera. She had only seen a picture of an Engi before, they were, smaller than she envisioned them to be.
"Yes it is Lieutenant," said Harris. "A powered down one…"
"Is it dead?" She asked.
Harris shook his head, "The only real time an Engi can be killed is if their bodies are destroyed. When their cores are deactivated like this, then it just takes a small jump start, like a burst of energy to wake them up. Right now it is turned off…"
"Can we turn it back on?" Suggested Evera, "Maybe he could be of some help."
Harris nodded, Engies were the best repairers in the Universe. Having one on board would help their chances significantly, being one man down as it was. "We can try," said Harris. He grabbed on of the Engi's arms, and gave it a hard pull, only to find the Engi heavier then it looked. After three more attempts Harris realized there was no plausible way they could carry the Engi to the shuttle, they would have to improvise.
Harris and Evera ran a power cord through the busted up bridge window and moved the shuttle just outside the bridge making the cord able to reach the Engi. After that, Harris then connected the cord to the Engi, and let the electricity flow. For a second, the Engi remained motionless, with no sigh of if the charge was working. Harris and Evera looked at each other worried that this was all a waste of time.
Suddenly the green core of the Engi began to flicker and blink, first subtly at first, but then it began to grow brighter and blink more frequently. Soon the entire orb was lit and glowing brightly, and a soft electric hum soon came from inside the robotic figure, with the new found life force with in.
Slowly the head of the Engi began to rise, and a green color began to fill the eye slots on the face. When the head faced forward, the Engi slowly turned his head from one side to the other, causing a mechanic whirling sound as it turned. When the Engi saw Harris and Evera, he stopped and stared at the two of them. For another long moment, the three of them said nothing, and just stared at each other. Then the Engi concluded that the two of them had resorted him back online.
The Engi then looked down on his chest, saw the cord connected to his chest, removed it from his body, and slowly stood up. On his feet he looked at the two humans and said in an electronic voice: "Gratitude." Said the Engi.
Harris and Evera looked at each other, not used to the Engi tone of speaking. Harris then stepped forward and introduced himself, "I am captain Harris Breg of the Federation Ship the Good Tidings." He then gestured towards Evera, "This his my second in command, Lt. Evera Quenant."
"Greetings." Replied the Engi. "Identification number: 37658764902. For clarification. Human name equivalent to: Gage." The Engi turned and begun to explore his ship, looking at what sort damage the ship had sustained, while Harris and Evera followed close behind him.
After a good half an hour the Engi stopped in the middle of the ship's armory and said. "Ship's condition. Poor. Chance of repair success, 15.76%. Purpose alternative. Offer services and equipment from present ship to known working Federation ship."
"You would be willing to help us?" Asked Harris.
"Affirmative. Increased chances of leaving planet if offer services to Federation. Multiplied chances to 88.98%."
"Are you sure?" Asked Harris. "We are in the middle of an important mission, and might not be able to stop in your home sector to drop you off."
"Indifferent. Chances of leaving planet fall to 1.23% if left here by Federation. Current mission. Unknown yet acceptable."
Harris knew what he was trying to say, if he didn't go with them and help the Engi mu be stuck here for a long time. But either way, he was not about to let an Engi offering to join his ship get away. "All right," smiled Harris. "We will have you."
"Gratitude." Replied the Engi. "Addition assistance suggested. The ship's sensor station adequate. In addition. Salvageable material for scrap. Agreed?"
"You would be willing to give us the ship's advance sensors?" Asked Lt. Evera.
"Affirmative." Said the Engi. Harris and Evera looked at each other and smiled, their day just became better.
For the next two hours, the three of them took apart the advance sensors in the ship and placed the parts in the shuttle, when they were finished with the sensors, they began to make the trip back up to the ship in the shuttle.
After arriving back on the Good Tidings, Evera and Gage went straight to work in the Sensor station, up grading the sensors; while Harris went to the bridge to check on the ship. Checking the long range sensors, Harris noticed something on the long range scanners that made his heart skip a beat. A sea of red, like a wave of ugly water over the clam black universe. The REBELS were sending a fleet to search for them.
"Not just content with scouts searching for us, huh?" Said Harris under his breath.
Harris then spoke over the intercom to the two crew members, "How the upgrade going?"
"Already done, sir! Gage knew what to do and before I knew it the system was installed!" Harris smiled, he knew Engies were at machines, but this was beyond his expectations at how quick the Engi could install it. "Shall we go back down planet-side, sir, for more scrap?"
"Negative, Lieutenant. We have bigger issues. We have incoming company." "A REBEL fighter?" "A REBEL Fleet, lieutenant. It seems we are quite the wanted party guest." "A fleet sir?"
"Recommend powering FTL drive. Heading towards nearby sector beacon." Came Gage's robotic voice.
"Agreed," said Harris. "Prepare for FTL jump, we are getting out of here!"
"Inquisitive. What position should this one be at?"
"Which one would you prefer?" Offered Harris. "We need one in engines or one in the armory."
"Engines are higher priority than weapons in need of escape. Therefore engines are in need of operator."
"Alright, head to the engine room and prepare to jump Gage." "Understood," came the Engi's voice. Within minutes the ship was prepped for FTL jump. Moving the ship away from the planet and towards the beacon when the FTL jump drive was powered, Harris locked on to the beacon.
"PREPARING TO LEAVE PLANET: 5432. NOTICE: IN CONGRUENCE WITH THE FEDERATION CHARTER THE LAST CAPTAIN CAN NAMED AN UNNAMED PLANET. DO YOU WISH TO NAME THE PLANET? Harris stared back at the last bit of visible part of the planet. As he looked at the planet one more time, a name came up to Harris's mind. After agreeing to the suggestion, Harris then punched the name of the planet, after he was done, the AI replied, "NAME ACCEPTED: NOW DEPARTING WALKER'S PEACE."
After hearing the name Harris smiled and punched it, and the ship departed from the one planet towards another small speck in the dark surroundings.
"DROPPING OUT OF FTL JUMP." Came the AI reporting the ship's status. As the pressure from the jump suddenly lifted from Harris's body, he lurched forward as the speed of the ship dropped. After setting the ship at a slow glide, Harris turned on the newly installed short-range sensors, testing out the new equipment. The sensors themselves where designed to be able to pierce the hull of any ship and tell the crew how many men where in the other ship and where they were in the ship.
Since Gage installed the sensors, the Good Tidings did not have a chance to test them on a ship. The jumps from the abandoned planet seemed to mirror the beacons that the ship stopped at: abandoned. While Harris was happy to avoid conflicts, he wanted a chance to test the sensors on a ship to see if they could work. As the sensors scanned the local area, Harris began to doubt he would ever have a chance to use the new systems in this sector.
"ALERT, UNIDENTIFIED SHIP ORBITING EXIT BEACON." The discovery of the ship made Harris sit up in this chair, and captured his full attention. "Looks like we have company," reported Harris over the intercom.
"Are they REBELS?" Asked Evera.
"Different style of ship, Lieutenant. It's an old decommissioned bomber class ship, the REBELS wouldn't be caught dead in a ship like that." 'So what are they then?" "No idea, Evera. They could be enemies or friends." The other ship by then seemed to noticed the Good Tidings, and broke off orbit to intercept the ship. "Looks like we are going to find out," said Harris. "Have the shields on standby, Evera."
"Yes sir!" She replied.
"Gage, I will transfer energy from the med-bay to the engines. That should get the engines at full power."
"Gratitude." Came Gage's robotic voice.
"All right, be alert and be ready," Ordered Harris moving the ship towards the exit beacon of the sector. As the two ships moved closer towards each other, Harris looked at the ship. The ship had basic shields but its weapons consisted of a Hermes missile a pike Beam and a dual laser; a heavily armed ship, despite it being old. Which raise a red flag in Harris mind.
When the ship came into hail range, Harris made the first contact and hailed the ship, saying: "This is Captain Harris Breg of the Federation ship, Good Tidings. Identify yourselves." For a brief moment the ship gave no answer.
Harris was about to repeat his identification, but the ship replied to the hail. "Power down your weapons and surrender one of your crew to us. If you do not do that within a minute prepared to be destroyed." Harris exhaled sharply, slavers. They were common in the fringe planets, raiding small settlements and ships, looking for people to sell. Clearly they wanted one of them.
Harris shook his head, he just had a new member of the crew join them, and he was not going to give up one of his crew. Hailing the ship, Harris prematurely answered for his crew. "Not a chance in hell," and Harris powering up the weapons. "Get ready for a fight," said Harris to the other two. "We have slavers, and they are not selling."
"Understood, shield at full power," answered Evera.
"Comprehend. Engines at best performance." Also answered Gage.
"ALERT: INCOMING PROJECTILES." Harris looked at the ship and saw a missile followed by two laser beams. Harris then pulled hard on the ship's steering yoke, causing the Good Tidings, to climb up. With the added energy to the boosters, the ship was able to dodge the missile, but not the lasers. The first one hit the shield making the shield overload and fall apart, allowing the second laser to hit the Good Tidings. The ship then shook after the laser made contact with the ship, telling Harris the ship had been hit. He glanced over at the overview of the ship, the laser hit one of the empty rooms causing no damage to any of the systems.
Harris sighed relieved, at least their ship was still running at its best performance. "ALERT: ENERGY BEAM PREPARING TO FIRE." Harris attention darted to the other ship and turned the yoke to dodge the beam, if possible. A beam weapon is hard to dodge, and could do a lot of damage. As he turned he saw the beam materialize and leap towards the Good Tidings.
But it did not touch the ship. Before the beam could reach the ship, the shield was restored and the beam touched the shield, blocking it from the ship. Harris then steadied the ship as the weapons became fully charged. Harris knew that the enemy's weapons where going to be a nightmare if they did not take out the weapon's systems.
Harris then set the ship's weapons to auto fire on the enemy ship's armory. When the missile was ready, it launched towards the ship followed by three lasers from the burst lasers. The missile went straight through the shields and made a direct hit on the ship's weapon's systems. The three lasers followed missile, the first one dissolved the shield allowing the other two lasers to enter past the would be shields. The first one missed the ship, but the second one made contact with the ship and added more damage toe the ships armory. Harris smiled to himself when he saw the beam's glow of energy go dark. A sign that energy had stopped flowing to the weapon.
As the weapon powered down, Harris snuck a look at the console with the enemy ship's stats. With the improvements to the sensors, Harris was able to see the movement of the crew of the slavers. There were three members, two of them were the actual crew, and one was in a sealed room that blocked the sensors for some reason. It must have been specially coated in a sensor blocking material. No doubt it was the room were they placed their captives to avoid lower level sensors from sensing the captives. But they could detect a life signature coming from the room, but as far as the type of the being and the location in the room itself.
Of the two of the crew, one was a human on shields, and a slug on the helm. After the damage was done to the armory, the human abandoned his post and went to the armory trying to repair the weapons. After another five seconds the slaver's ship fired again, this time with only the missile launcher and the lasers. The missile again missed the ship, but one laser hit the Good Tidings, in the engine room, making the ship's speed slow.
"Gage, damage report!" Inquired Harris.
"Damage minimal. Repairs need under three minutes." Replied the Engi.
"Very well," replied Harris, leaving the Engi to his work. While the ship was slower, it still was going at a decent pace thanks the presence of an engineer in the engine room. When the Good Tidings weapons were recharged they fired automatically, their target the ship's armory. The second missile missed, flying off into space never to be seen again, while the three laser burst went straight to their target, the first one like before dissolved the shield, and the two after the first hit the armory, and caused a small explosion causing a fire to break out in the armory.
Harris then looked back at the console and noticed the fire. The human was currently fighting off the fire that had ignited in the room. Looking at all the ship's weapon's he noticed the duel lasers were powered down, and the only thing that remained powered was the missile launcher. Only the missiles would remain a threat from this ship.
As the time passed, Harris mentally braced himself to dodge another missile. But it never came. Confused, Harris looked at the missile launcher on the slaver ship. It was loaded, but nothing was coming out. Harris then realized what it meant; the slavers were out of missiles. The slavers could not fire back for now, they were sitting ducks for the Good Tidings.
As the Good Tidings prepared to fire again, the slaver ship urgently hailed them saying: "Enough! Please, we have had enough!"
Harris was not moved by the slavers' pleads. He de activated the auto firing to reply: "Why should we not blow your ship up to the stars?"
For a pause, the slavers gave no answer. Harris slowly guided his hand over the FIRE button on the console. "We—" replied the slavers stopping Harris's hand, "We will give you our slave in exchange for our lives."
"What?"
"If you let us go, we will give your our slave and never bother you again."
Harris considered the proposal, an extra crew member to their ship. It was very tempting.
"I can't believe you agreed!" Exclaimed Lt. Evera, rubbing her head.
"We have a chance to increase our crew, Lieutenant."
"We are working with slavers! We need to arrest them and take their ship to custody."
"Under whose authority? The failing Federation or our own? We have no bases to send them for to trial out here. We are lucky they are giving us their slave. And not only that we get to free a would be slave. Isn't that enough?"
Evera sighed angrily, "I guess so sir."
"Incoming shuttle, Captain." Came Gage's voice from the bridge. Harris order Gage to pilot the ship and to keep the guns pointed on the slaver ship, as one of the crew would bring the slave over to the Good Tidings in a shuttle. Harris and Evera were waiting in a room outside the airlock with their pistols out and ready incase it got ugly.
Harris heard the shuttle lock its docking passage to the ship, and the outer airlock open. The slaver and the slave had arrived.
"What sort of condition would the slave be in?" Asked Evera.
"Who knows," shrugged Harris. "If I had a guess they will be undernourished and rather weak."
"Captain," came Gage's voice over the intercom. "Two personnel clear. Ambush unlikely."
"Thanks Gage, keep watch on that ship," replied Harris. He pressed the unlock for the door and the two door panels swooshed open. The first person to come out of the hatch was a human, his face covered in scars and tattoos, and not happy. Harris pegged him as the human in the armory.
The human then snapped having the slave come out of airlock. From the air lock their came a loud and gravely thump, followed by a large grey and black rock arm, with the rest of the rockman ducking his head to fit into the doorway. As he step forward Harris and Evera were speechless, it was a large contrast from the slaver. The rock man was almost too tall for the ship, his head was a few inches away from the ceiling. He had bright red eyes, but they were not evil, rather solemn. The rockman's skin was composed of black and dark grey stones. The Rockmen's biology were a mystery to the Federation, and most of the other races. But they were known for their "solid" behavior, they were simple battle loving people who were set in their ways.
On this one's neck and wrists was some sort of yellow collars that seems to be charge with an electoral current. No doubt a from of behavior control on the rockman for the slavers.
"Or he could be a giant rock creature," whispered Harris to Evera.
"This is the slave," said the human.
"I see," said Harris. "What is that around his neck?"
"A slave collar. We put it on our slaves to keep them under control."
"I want it off," said Harris.
"What?" Replied the slaver. The rockman looked at Harris confused.
"Uh, sir? Wouldn't be wise to keep that collar on, just in case he gets out of hand…" whispered Evera.
Harris just ignored the two of them and said again, "I want the collar off of him." He then looked at the slaver, "Unless you have forgotten I have your ship in my crosshairs." The slaver just stared at Harris angrily. Giving in to his request, the slaver pulled out a key, and one by one unlocked the collars that were around the rockman's wrists and neck. When the slaver was done, Harris said, "Now I suggest you leave for your ship. Unless you want this rockman to reply his former masters."
With the threat enough to scare the man, the slaver disappeared into the airlock and into his shuttle. When he was gone, the rockman stared at Harris, unsure of what to think.
Harris stepped forward, "I am captain Harris Berg. This is my ship the Good Tidings. Are you alright?" The rockman was slow to answer, as if he did not trust Harris yet. But eventually the rockman nodded slowly: "yes." "What is your name?"
"Groc," came a low gravely voice from the creature. "And I guess I have you to thank I am not in a slave market right now being sold to the highest bidder." Harris was surprised. Rockmen usually had simple English, but this one had a better grasp of the language than others.
"You speak English rather well," noticed Harris.
"I was on a Federation fringe colony for most of my life, before I taken for a slave."
"I see," said Harris. "Well if it is alright with you, I would like to hire you for one of my crew."
"Do I have a choice in this decision?" Asked Groc.
Harris nodded, "You do now. I won't force you to work for us, but it might be awhile before we find a station to drop you off on. It could get boring."
"Is that why your freed me?" Asked the rockman rubbing his wrists.
"What better way to earn your trust?" Smiled Harris.
The rockman cracked a grin. "Well it worked. I'll join you Harris."
"Good," smiled Harris. He then turned to Lt. Evera, "This is my second in command, Evera. She can show you to your quarters and later to the armory. We'll have you man the armory, if that is ok."
"That is fine," said Groc. And with that the Lieutenant and the rockman walked into the ship, and towards the crew's quarters.
Harris went in the opposite direction, towards the bridge, to take over for Gage. Within a couple of days, the once undermanned to having almost a full crew: one a master mechanic and another immune to fire. Things were looking up for the little ship and it's mission.
End Notes
Gage's and Groc's names
I was a bit unoriginal with the names, mostly due to laziness. I think they fit for the characters.
Gage's speech
I went back and played several round of FTL trying to get the text right. I hope I did, let me know if it works.
Cheers
Indogma