First of all, sorry. I know it's been a good bit since the prologue but y'know how life gets in the way sometimes. Anyway, I spent a good bit of time on this one. I hope you all like it. Of course, let me know what you think and be civil. Without further delay.

The Search: Chapter 1 - Landfall

-

Isaac hesitated for just a moment, before he finalized the startup for the ship's super space drive. He thought about what he'd been taught about the drive from military engineers. Many people believed that the super space drive jumped ships into another dimension called 'super space' but this is wrong. Super space, unlike sub space, is a state of existence rather than a place. The drive deforms space around the vessel. Such that it will push the vessel along at a faster rate than conventional means. As he thought about it he began to happen in real time. One engineer explained it to Isaac like this: take a nut between your fingers and squeeze. The nut will fly out from your fingers. Super space works much like this. Although, space travel at this speed is even more dangerous than normal. A stray piece of debris can rip a vessel in two. Which is why space is also deformed in front of the vessel by the drive. It's useful to have a term to denote the difference between regular travel and super space travel which is why the term arose. In our galaxy, the Union was among the first star nations to develop faster than light travel and this proved to be a massive advantage throughout the centuries of the Union. It cut a trip of a trip of 100 light years from millions of years to minutes. All this to say, Isaac had an hour or two to review the mission details before he'd be at his destination.

—-

It had been somewhat of a shock to the high command and everyone else who needed to know when Erich had first reported from orbit of this planet. It wasn't unusual to find primitive civilizations; uncommon yes but not unusual, but this was the first instance ever where a primitive human civilization had been found. Of course when Erich reported it he was told to carry out the mission and observe standard protocol for primitives. However, it still set a fire of debate that was still burning when Isaac arrived. That, coupled with his brother's disappearance, had everyone in the high command at least looking at this world. It was many light years from Earth so how was it possible? As far we know Earth is the birthplace of mankind and our biology proves it. They have had over a year to think about it from when Erich reported it to when Isaac arrived. One theory postulates that maybe there was once a great human empire that then collapsed. Some remnants surviving on Earth and some more on this world. Another, more plausible theory, speculates it may have been an Ark ship. The Ark ships were born in a time of division. When mankind separated itself under their own governments. Still, even in division some of these weak governments worked together to build these Ark ships. What exactly they were equipped with has been lost but they were known to be incredibly advanced for their time. They were built to save mankind if some great cataclysm would befall man. Unfortunately, or fortunately according to some, they were built just in time for the crisis of the 23rd century. Isaac's history made a point to pay close attention to this event. As a result of what division amongst ourselves can cause. The event itself is widely known and researched. It is known it began with a diplomatic dispute resulting in naval blockade which then led to a nuclear exchange. Despite this it is not known who fired first. It was during said exchange that the Ark ships attempted to launch. There were 10 Arks. Four didn't manage to launch. The remaining six only managed to launch with only 5-12% capacity. Each Ark was designed to carry a maximum of 1 million passengers. Of the six Arks that launched only half reached orbit due to unforeseen circumstances. It is known that one Ark was unlucky enough to travel into the path of an incoming warhead. All souls were lost. The three Arks in orbit activated their drives. How exactly these drives worked is unknown but they were true warp drives. Capable of generating wormholes to distant stars. For whatever reason, most likely due to the primitive nature of the drives, the Ark ships didn't travel together and they left the Earth to its fate. Again it's only speculation. It's believed that the Ark ships would've broken apart in warp. Even if one made it to this planet it would be a very difficult landing considering that 85% of the planet's surface is water. That and said Ark could only have up to around 100,000 people. Which for colonization is very few. Nevertheless, they're here and they're to be avoided.

Isaac, now in orbit of the planet that may have claimed his brother, piloted his ship to dock with Erich's vessel. Those in charge had sent a few guys to look after Erich's ship when he went dark. Now that Isaac was here they'd stay and look after both ships until Isaac returned with his brother or if Isaac also goes missing. Their meeting was brief. Isaac was eager to go look for his brother but he had to sit and listen to a critical detail first.

"Alright, while we waited for you we completed a more detailed scan of the planet." Sergeant Morrison said.

"And?" Isaac questioned.

"Well we attempted to but something is jamming us making this planet near impenetrable to our sensors." The sergeant said.

"Why do you think that is?" Isaac asked.

"Who knows. Maybe it's an alien outpost from the last war jamming our sensors or maybe it's a planetary anomaly, but we know it stops all transmissions too. Your brother is down there we just can't see him or talk to him and vice versa." Morrison explained.

"Good to know." Isaac started off towards the shuttles.

"Just one more thing," Morrison called out, "we don't know if it affects ship flight so exercise caution."

"I'll keep that in mind." Isaac replied before again turning and walking towards the shuttles.

"Good luck!" The sergeant said before Isaac closed the shuttle door behind him.

The shuttle startup was simple. Isaac ran the checks, flipped a few switches and strapped in. He then signaled to the crew that he was ready to go afterwards they moved his shuttle to the launch tube. Isaac listened to the countdown.

"5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.. Launching."

Isaac was shoved back into the seat as compressed air blew the ship out of the tube and into space. Then he took control of the shuttle. Piloting it to land near where they thought his brother's shuttle would be. It only took a few minutes to enter the lower atmosphere. Everything was going well until a light on the console started to flash and an alarm blared. It was the electronic warfare alert? How can that be? A moment later Isaac found it much harder to control the shuttle as it started a quick unplanned descent. Isaac attempted desperately to pull the craft up and stabilize it but it just wouldn't respond. He cleared the clouds and for better or for worse he was heading toward land. The speed and altitude alerts now kicked in as well but Isaac was only able to watch as the ground got closer and closer. He saw the tops of trees come nearer like spikes ready to impale him.

I can't die here. He thought.

He looked around and he saw a bird. A very large bird. Was it a bird? No, he didn't see any feathers. That's when he hit the ground. He heard a massive crash and the sound of steel scraping against the ground. The seat brace could only take so much force and it snapped like it twig. Isaac lurched forward slamming his head against the console before being thrown like a ragdoll around the cabin as the shuttle made its mark on the planet. Isaac tasted blood but he couldn't tell if it was from his nose or his mouth. The shuttle finally came to rest, and Isaac closed his eyes.

—-

When Isaac came to the alarms were still blaring. He felt sharp stinging pains all over his body. He rolled over onto his back and brought his hands up around his neck. He undid the locking mechanism and slid his flight helmet off then he touched his tongue to his hand to check for blood. There wasn't any, it must've been his nose.

"Hell of a landing." He groaned. "What the hell does this planet have against me?"

Isaac rose to his feet. He then looked at his helmet.

"Damn, must've saved my life." He said.

The helmet had massive dents all over and one massive crack where he had hit the console. Isaac walked over to the console and shut down the alarms. He then grabbed his combat helmet from the locker and put it on. The helmet itself was a pretty nifty piece of tech. It was equipped with low-light vision, a heads-up display, map, compass, clock, universal translator, and an early warning system. That and it could take quite a beating too. He pulled up the world map put together by Morrison and his guys and zoomed into his area. Except he couldn't. The map only supported resolution up to 200 meters.

Right, Morrison said they were running into some kind of jammer. Isaac remembered.

Isaac turned to leave but something banged against the seat stopping him.

What the? He thought. Isaac then looked down and saw a piece of metal that lodged itself into his suit.

God damn, I'm lucky I was selected for Project Paladin. Isaac thought before grabbing the piece and wrenching it out with ease.

The Paladin project was the brainchild of Director Brown. A Paladin operative was equipped with a full body combat exosuit, heavy combat armor for said suit, and the aforementioned helmet. Paladins were designed to be quickly deployable shock troops to break up the heavy troopers. In reality they replaced special forces in some of the more dangerous deployments. Project Guardian is regarded by many to be a further evolution of Paladin. As such, Guardian operatives ended up replacing Paladins in quick response roles, and they were massively more effective. Guardians were designed to survive a drop from orbit, and amazingly they could. Although there hasn't yet been an instance in an actual combat scenario. The test was conducted during the final stages of development. In the test they took a ship, put a Guardian in it, and then they blew it up. The operative fell down, through the planet's atmosphere, reaching terminal velocity, and then impacted the ground and lived. Albeit most of their robotic limbs shattered and broken but the core survived. Erich was, and still is, the latest edition to Guardian even though it's been nearly five years since he was inducted. Erich is designated 'G. 306' the most advanced soldier in the whole of the Union's army, and Isaac wanted to join him. Something bugged him though. There were thousands of Paladins before Guardian and when it had been started a majority of Paladins were moved over to it. So why were there only 306 Guardians?

Maybe it's something I can ask Erich about. Isaac thought, finally coming back to his current situation.

Thankfully the ship came to rest in a level position allowing Isaac to use the normal exit. He opened it up and stepped out of his shuttle. The air was cold and dry. The forest went on for as far as he could see. Isaac made his way to the rear of the vessel. He could see the clear path his shuttle carved into the planet. Some trees unfortunate enough to be in the way were snapped in twain. Their broken pieces lay scattered across the ground. Isaac didn't hear any birds, or crickets, or anything else to indicate life. It was strange. In a world such as this it should be teaming with life. Perhaps there was a predator nearby, or maybe the wildlife was afraid of him?

"Not exactly a silent entrance." Isaac said to himself.

Then he heard a twig snap. He spun around in the direction of the noise, but he saw nothing. Isaac activated the suit's directional scanner to pick up any movement in his surroundings. It immediately went off in the direction he was already facing.

That can't be. He thought. There's nothing there.

Isaac checked it again and realized it was giving off an alert in the direction he was facing but it wasn't at ground level. He slowly began to look up at the tops of the trees. One tree bent off to its side like there was a weight pulling it down. He looked further up and that's when he saw it. It was some kind of creature. One Isaac had never seen before nor anything like it. It looked like the bird he had seen just before the shuttle hit the ground. It was a massive orange beast, with bat-like wings, horns like the devil, and razor sharp teeth, and it was looking right at him. Isaac would call this thing a dragon but he'll leave animal taxonomy to the scientists. For now this thing was snarling at him as it descended from the tree and towards him. He stood his ground. His suit would protect him and he would be fine. The creature bellowed at him. Isaac could feel as the roar made his bones vibrate. Then, Isaac made a mistake that could cost the creature its life. He took a step back. Seeing this, the creature charged forward and swiped at Isaac with its massive wings. Each swing left a mark on his armor. Isaac now realized this creature's wings were razor sharp. Enough to shave a few millimeters off his armor with each swipe.

The hell kind of planet is this!? Isaac thought to himself.

He snapped himself out of his daze, and grabbed one of the wings with both hands when the creature tried to strike him again. It stopped for a moment, shocked that Isaac grabbed onto its wing, then it bellowed again before resuming its attack, but it was cut short as Isaac simply twisted his arms. The creature bellowed for a third time, this time in pain as it recoiled back, Isaac just broke one of its wings. Isaac moved to follow the creature. It then hissed and blasted a stream of red hot flames at the metal man. Isaac put a hand up in front of his eyes to shield them from the sudden brightness. The creature took the chance to scamper off. Isaac, now alone, could feel the fire burning around. The heat made it feel like an oven inside the suit. He swiped off the flames.

It's like napalm! He surmised.

He walked back to his shuttle after clearing the flames off. Then, he stepped back inside. He walked back to the equipment locker and opened it up. He grabbed his standard issue pistol.

"This is staying close to me from now on." He said as he grabbed the pistol's ammunition putting the whole kit on his belt.

Standing back up, he turned to leave again, but first he looked around the cabin for anything else that might be of use. Then, seeing nothing, he stepped out again.

"Sure hope the locals didn't notice my parking job," he paused, "well, anymore of them."

He looked around again, and this time he made sure to check the treetops. Thankfully, he saw nothing.

"Okay Erich, where are you?" He said before looking at his suit's integrated PDA.

Isaac saved his coordinates so he could remember where his ship was before switching on his radio and scanning the frequencies. Unfortunately, it seemed not even the radio worked, the jammer was garbling everything.

"I hate this planet." Isaac said before looking up to the sky.

He took a deep breath and exhaled. He shut off the PDA and returned his arms to his sides.

"Well, it's gonna be a long day." He sighed.

He decided to start walking in the opposite direction that the creature ran. So, he walked around to the front of the ship and started off into the woods.

—-

"Day 1, despite how much I already hate this planet I can't help but be drawn to it. It's very similar to my homeworld, Korinth, everything is so similar even down to the cloud patterns. The system's star, just like Korinth, is a G-class star. The Union will likely order this world to be colonized. Give it a few hundred years and it will be just like Korinth. Personal feelings aside, I've had a run in with some hostile fauna. It was just like a dragon from old Earth tales. After I broke its wing it fled, and I decided to begin my search in the opposite direction. Just like Korinth the planet functions on a 30 hour day and night cycle. It is now 2500 hours. When I landed it was around 1100 hours. 14 hours and I didn't find anything. Until now, during my search I went back to the shuttle and activated its tachyon sensors. Now, I thought it wouldn't work because this jammer thing was garbling everything. Radios, GPS, electrical systems, et cetera. I decided to give it a try anyway. Of course it was still garbled so I continued searching, but I linked my PDA to the ship so I could monitor it. Then, a few minutes ago I checked my PDA. It's picking something up on the tachyon sensors. Faint, but it's picking up something. It could be Erich or it could be the jammer. Either way, it will help in progressing my objectives. From looking at my available map this island is a little over 50 miles across and about 90 miles long. Insane, this is one of the biggest islands on the planet and it's just a little bigger than Brook's Peninsula on Korinth. Anyway, I'm gonna find my brother." Isaac shut the recording off.

His PDA saved the recording and he put his arm down. He was sitting on a log on the edge of a clearing. It turns out there were crickets and other bugs on this world. They sang their songs as Isaac sat listening, and watching the trees through his helmet's eyes. Isaac loved this feature of his helmet. It could be pitch dark and he would be able to see as if it was a clear day. Night vision. Perfect night vision. It made the world seem so unreal because he could hear the crickets sing but it looked as if it was midday. Isaac felt fatigue begin to overtake him.

I'll start looking at the first light tomorrow. He thought before switching the night vision off.

Isaac rolled off the log onto the ground so he could look up at the stars. Then, he shut his eyes and went to sleep.

—-

Isaac sat up with a start. He didn't hear birds chirping around him, and the sun was too high up in the sky. He checked the time on his PDA.

"Dammit, I overslept." He mumbled after seeing the time: 1532 hours.

He stood up and looked around. It was all clear. He looked at his PDA again and turned the direction that the tachyon signal was.

Here we go. He thought as he began to walk in the direction of the signal.

As he walked the winds picked up a bit. The evergreens gave their charismatic rustle. He'd occasionally hear squirrels bark and woodpeckers chipping away. Then it occurred to Isaac, how had these animals gotten here? The only explanation would be an Ark ship. One must've made it to this planet, and either landed or crashed here. Either way the animals would've been released onto this planet. It must be the same with the trees. These primitive humans must be descendant from an Ark ship. Why else would these animals and plants be here? It makes sense. When a new species is suddenly introduced to new environment it usually dominates it. Like when Grey Squirrels were accidentally introduced to England. The Grey Squirrels were naturally bigger and more aggressive than their Red Squirrel contemporaries. As such the Red Squirrel population drastically declined and the Grey Squirrel dominated the scene. It must've been that the Ark's flora and fauna when introduced to this world suppressed the natives and replaced them, but that doesn't explain the creature he had fought yesterday. It must be native to this planet. How close was he to the signal again? Isaac looked at his PDA again. He was about 11 miles away from the signal's origin. He needed to focus on walking.

—-

It was around 2600 hours when he found something. It was a path carved into the ground. Though it was faded and vegetation had grown over it he could still see it. So, he followed the trail up until he saw something glinting in the distance. He came closer and he saw that it was a shuttle. Erich's shuttle. Isaac ran over to the vessel. It had been an even rougher landing than his. Pieces of the shuttle had broken off and scattered into the brush. The main structure, sitting halfway in a creek, had come to rest on its side. Isaac made his way around the side and saw the hatch hanging open. Erich was here. Maybe he was still on this island! Isaac ran forward and climbed into the shuttle. He thought his brother would've connected himself to his shuttle just like he had. Pulling himself through the opening, Isaac saw that the shuttle was completely dead. No power. He flopped down onto the floor that was formerly a wall. He made his way over to a power box and opened it.

"You gotta have some juice left in ya." He said while jury rigging the box.

There was a sudden spark and Isaac vaulted himself back from the box. He thought the box had just ark flashed, but quickly stood up after realizing it worked. There was some power left in the ship. The lights that were not broken are now illuminated. He made his way over to the center console and began looking for anything he could. Then it found it, the ship was still tracking Erich and he was moving. His brother was alive! Isaac quickly completed an uplink to his own ship to move the tracker there. He checked how far away his brother was. Isaac's jaw fell open. 2,549 miles. How? How can that be? He'd been alone for a year but how did he make it that far? This planet is near complete ocean!

It doesn't matter. I'm coming for you Erich. He told himself.

With that Isaac climbed back out of the hatch. He looked around and saw a nearby log. Isaac walked over and sat down on the log before bringing up his PDA and starting another recording.

"Day 2. Originally, I thought it would be weeks before I found anything that would lead me to my brother. Thankfully I am the luckiest man alive, and I found his shuttle. Not only was it a sign he was at least here but it was still linked to him. He's alive and moving. Granted he made it over 2,000 miles away from his ship somehow. I'm still trying to work out how he made it that far. He probably just built a boat and started sailing. I've concluded that the humans on this world must've come from an Ark ship. I haven't found said Ark ship, but all the evidence points to that being the case. I looked at the database on my PDA. Most of these animals and plants are nearly identical to ones found on old Earth. According to the saved documents about the Ark project, not only did they carry human colonists, but they also carried seeds and embryos and a bunch of other little goodies. I think that's enough to prove that theory correct. Now, I can cover about 40 miles a day if there's nothing in my way and everything goes perfect. Erich is approximately 2,549 miles away. So, 2,549 divided by 40 is 63. 63 days or about two months. So, I decided, fuck that I'm gonna try and fly there. My ship isn't too damaged and can be reasonably repaired within a few days. However, that doesn't solve the interference issue. If I try to take off then it's reasonable to assume that I will have no control over the vessel. Then, I'll crash again. Fortunately, there seems to be a method to this madness. The interference seems to affect open systems. If it also affected closed systems, like my exosuit, then I would probably be breaking my own arms due to no control. Solution? Make it a closed system. How can I do that? Well I decided right now that I will take zero chances and I will hard code my ship to fly to Erich's coordinates. This also means I will not be able to control the vessel except through direct code. I could potentially reprogram the code to correspond to the analog inputs but that's something to figure out when I actually get to work on it. Oh, who thought it was a good idea to program the ships in an open system? I get it, we could remotely take control of a vessel if needed but really? Is that what takes precedence over hostile jammers? It'll be something to take up with the brass when I get off this rock. This is Paladin Isaac, cya." With that Isaac ended the recording and stood up.

He wanted to make it back to his ship before day 3 so he immediately started off in the direction he came from. Time will tell if this plan would really work. For now, Isaac walked the 15 miles back to his ship.

—-

The time was 0920. Isaac was exhausted. He dragged himself back into his shuttle and fell asleep again. When he woke up it was 2219 hours.

"I need to get a handle on this new sleep schedule." He said as he willed himself up.

It was sunset outside but he could still inspect his shuttle before it was dark out. Walking out he turned to look at the first the forward thruster, which was fine, and then the rear thruster, which was also fine. He walked around the front of the ship to the other side where he inspected this side's thrusters. One, the forward thruster was damaged and would need some repairs, and the rear one was also fine. Then, he walked to the rear of the shuttle.

"Okay, there it is." He sighed.

The rear, main thrusters, were the most damaged. The initial landing must've knocked them loose and the subsequent rattling shock pieces off. Still, it was much better than he thought it would be. For now, Isaac stepped back into the shuttle. He sat down in the pilot seat again. He brought his PDA up and set an alarm for 0700 hours. Then he began another recording.

"Day 3, it looks like my plan might actually be viable. The damage to my craft is not nearly as bad as I thought it'd be. It can be repaired in a few hours. Then of course I need to rewrite the code. Now, I am a lazy sonofabitch, and normally I would take the easy route of writing as little code as possible. However, I don't believe in Robojesus and he will not protect me as he pilots this craft. So, I'm gonna write the code to take the analog inputs from the flight stick, throttle, and whatever else I need to make this happen. However, I am a lazy sonofabitch, and I'm going to sleep. Paladin Isaac, goodbye." He then saved the recording as usual and put his arm back down.

Then, Isaac tried to will himself to sleep. Of course, he couldn't. Probably because he just slept about 13 hours straight. He needed to stop thinking so much. It was keeping him up.

"Drugs, drugs will help." He said as he stood up and walked over to the medical locker.

He opened it and tried to find something to make him fall asleep. In a few minutes he found something. Sleeping pills. He took one out and put the container back. He took his helmet off and dropped it onto the ground as he walked back to the chair. When he sat down he took the pill and laid back. It would take a few minutes at least before he would start to feel the effects but likely to be half an hour. He sighed and stood back up.

I gotta tire myself out. He thought.

Isaac stripped the armor off the exosuit and laid down with his back up. Then he began to do push-ups. He kept pushing and pushing. Somewhere along the way he began to lose count. Then he felt his eyes grow heavy. His pace began to slow. Then, suddenly, he collapsed face down onto the ground. Isaac was asleep.

-

And there it is! Alot longer than the prologue I know but I really wanted to expand from how long the prologue was. Now, don't worry I felt bad for how Isaac handled that Timberjack too, but at least he didn't kill it. There might be some people in the next chapter who wouldn't be too fond of it if he did. I'll answer any questions you have feel free to message me. Of course, tune in next time.