Somewhere Over Earth - 2020
"I'm connecting the gyroscope now, ground control. How copy?"
"Loud and clear, Ashford! Let us know when we can power her up. Ground control out."
Astronaut Calvin Ashford pulled the defective gyroscope from the Stratford telescope. Its golden facade reflected the shine of the sun in the distance. Causing a glare to temporarily blind Calvin as it floated into space beside him. He reached out, grasping its side and drew it downwards towards his belt. Securing it with a line and attached clip. He then reached across his body and pulled its replacement forward. Guiding the sphere into position within the inner workings of the telescope.
As his hands worked, Calvin's mind began to drift. His time up on the International Space Station was quickly nearing its end. Even if he had only been on station for less than three months. He was a part of a three man team that was specifically sent up to assist in the repair of the Stratford telescope. While the rest of the seven man crew continued with their assigned experiments and projects. His team's mission was to replace three of the seven gyroscopes that the telescope contained and then verify the status of the remaining four. Before returning to Earth. A relatively simple and low-risk mission. The telescope could be operated using the remaining four afterall. But NASA wanted to complete the project while they still had the budget.
Calvin pulled a drill from the front of his chest and quickly centered it over one of the bolts that connected the gyroscope to the telescope. He then pulled its trigger and waited as it whirled silently. Tightening the bolt to the metal below. It was the first of eight bolts that needed to be tightened before he could begin the process of connecting the various cords and wires to the gyroscope. He removed the drill a second later, once he felt it start to press against his hold. Indicating that the bolt was fully connected. He had just turned to pull the next bolt, when a bright, blue flash pulled his attention.
He looked up and at first only saw the multitude of stars and the distant glow of Earth's atmosphere. A glorious view that had lost its appeal over the course of his time stationed on the ISS. But upon a second glance, he noticed a spot in the distance that seemed to be distorting the space around it. Like someone had placed a warped piece of glass in space. Causing the background stars to bend and shift. Suddenly, a silent crack of blue light erupted from the distortion. Looking like lightning in a storm on Earth.
Calvin's eyes widened behind his helmet visor as his training kicked in, overriding his initial shock. He activated his comms link.
"Ground control, this is Ashford. Do you copy? I've got a visual on an unidentified phenomenon. It appears to be some sort of spatial distortion."
A few tense seconds passed before ground control responded. "Ashford, this is ground control. Can you describe the phenomenon in more detail?"
"It's about fifty degrees off the horizon from my current position," Calvin replied, straining to keep his voice calm. "I can't tell how large it is, but it's distorting several stars behind it. It also seems to be sending out pulses of blue energy. Sending helmet feed now."
Calvin tapped a button on the side of his helmet, initiating the live feed transmission back to ground control. The display in his visor blinked briefly as the feed connected, capturing the warped, star-distorting anomaly.
"Feed received, Ashford. We see it. Stand by," came the response from ground control, the usual calm in the voice tinged with a hint of urgency. "We're analyzing the data. Continue to observe and report any changes."
Calvin felt a chill despite the regulated temperature inside his suit. He had trained for countless scenarios, but this was beyond anything he had ever imagined. The phenomenon remained relatively stable, pulsating intermittently with flashes of blue light. He briefly wondered if it might be another pod arriving like the one the Daily Planet had reported in their story about Superman. But these thoughts were quickly dashed.
The anomaly began to pulse more rapidly. Sending out more and more flashes of energy as it began to stretch. Slowly, blue energy began to form along its edges. Solidifying into cloud-like formations that rotated around its center. Its center also began to slowly glow. Overtaking the distorted stars behind it.
"Ground control, you seeing this?" Calvin radioed. His steady voice a stark contrast to his rapidly rising heart-rate and fear.
"Copy that, Ashford. We're seeing the changes on the feed. Hold your position and keep us updated," ground control responded, their calm demeanor barely concealing the urgency of the situation.
Suddenly, the anomaly collapsed in on itself before bursting outwards into a large, blinding ring. Its center was completely black like the void. Only for a dark, gray structure to slowly emerge from within.
Calvin watched in awe as the structure grew. More and more of its length appearing as it drove itself into normal space. Its shape a multitude of curved edges ending in sharp points. Eventually, Calvin realized it wasn't a structure, rather it was some sort of ship. A rather large one at that. It had to rival the size of a US aircraft carrier if Calvin was gauging the distance correctly.
"Ground control, there appears to be some sort of ship appearing from the anomaly. It appears to absolutely dwarf the size of the ISS. Copy?" Calvin reported.
"Roger that, Ashford. Continue monitoring. Maintain a safe distance. We're escalating this to higher authorities. Keep the feed running."
Calvin's heart pounded as he watched the ship glide smoothly out of the anomaly, which slowly started to close behind it. The vessel was unlike anything he'd ever seen. It was constructed of dark, matte material, and appeared to be shaped sort of like a stingray. With two, large wings spread over what had to be the engines. The wings connected to a central spine that had some sort of large disc at its center, before sloping downwards towards the bridge.
The ship just floated silently in space. A dark void in contrast to the bright blue of Earth's horizon and surrounding stars. Clavin thumbed the side of his helmet. Extending his camera's zoom to its maximum in order to capture as much detail as he could of the ship. He watched as the ship drifted forward. Before various lights sprung to life across its hull. Only to fade away a second later. This pattern repeated itself over the course of the next few minutes. Like the ship was trying to restart itself, only to cut out a few seconds later.
"Ground control to Ashford. "The calm voice from earlier startled Calvin. Causing him to flinch and lose sight of the vessel on his camera. He calmed himself and realigned the camera before responding.
"I read you, ground control."
"We've received orders from the higher-ups. They want you to maintain your footage of the vessel until it disappears from sight. Then they want you to return to the ISS for the day. Your space walk has been rescheduled to tomorrow due to a faulty suit. Roger?"
Calvin nodded within his suit. Understanding that what he was seeing was now considered classified and only for those that need to know. "Understood ground control."
He then proceeded to film the ship's descent. Its lights and systems flickering the entire time. Until it was too far away and only appeared as a tiny dot above the Mediterranean Sea. It wouldn't be until later, when he was reviewing the footage to send to ground control, that he'd notice writing on one of the wings.
Upon zooming in, the word "Katoptris" was clearly written in white on the wing.
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"I'm going to try and reboot the reactor again!" A female voice rang throughout the bridge.
"We've already entered the atmosphere. Reroute emergency power to the bridge and project our current descent." A deep, masculine voice answered. Sounding far too calm about the situation surrounding them.
In front of him, the holotable shifted. Populating the landmass below along with the UNSC Katoptris' current flight path. On its current course, they would crash into the middle of some sort of sea.
"Scan the sea again. See if there's any small islands where we can make landfall." The man ordered.
On the edge of the table, a figure emerged. Glowing a bright red in contrast to the table's blue. Her avatar appeared to be dressed in a long, flowing robe. With intricate, metallic decoration interwoven on her chest and the sash that sat around her waist. Before flowing downwards along her right leg. Her arms were bare, except for the metallic bands on her biceps and wrists. She was also wearing a long cape that attached along the straps that sat above the start of her shoulders. Finally, her long hair flowed in and around the metallic crown that resembled leaves on her forehead.
Her features resembled that of a young, beautiful, Greek woman. With symmetrical features and an ordinarily serene look. Her eyes, by contrast, were piercing and held a deep intelligence that outclassed that of any ordinary human.
"I've scanned the ocean three times and the nearest island is about a hundred kilometers north of our projected landing site. We'll never make it if we can't get the reactor back on." She informed the man.
"What if we vented our atmosphere out the starboard airlock?" The man asked as he leaned his armored hands on the table. In response the hologram shifted, now showing the ship's projected flight path and plotting them within reach of the island. But without any topography data they didn't know where they'd land, or if they'd just crash into the side of a mountain.
"That might fix our "stuck in the middle of the ocean" problem, but we still need to figure out a way to slow down." The female voice pointed out.
"What's preventing our reactor start-up?"
"Some of the coolant lines need to be individually rebooted. I'm cycling through now, but I don't think it will be fast enough to slow our descent in time."
"Can we push extra coolant through the working lines?"
"We'd risk damaging them and the reactor."
"But can we do it?"
The female voice huffed out a sigh. "Yes, we can do it. But it probably means we won't be going anywhere anytime soon. My projections show we'd only slow our descent by about sixty percent. Assuming we don't run into a mountain, the ship will probably be only fifty percent operational. None of that being flight capable."
"Then do it. We'll worry about repairs after we land. How are the packages?"
"Annoyed. Apparently, being secured in a crate with only a tablet to keep you busy is quite boring. They've already redesigned it six times."
"Will they survive the landing?"
"Grim, their crate is more secure and padded than your new MJOLNIR. They'll be fine." The female voice assured.
"Good. Then lockdown everything you can and prepare for landfall." Grim answered.
"Done! Would you like a projected damage assessment? It's actually quite low for one of your missions." The female voice sassed as a smirk appeared on her avatar.
"Conduct it once we land, Phoebe." Grim ordered as he strapped himself into the Captain's chair.
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Themyscira - Eastern Forest
Orana and Menalippe stalked through the forest. Their bows held aloft as they slowly approached one of the island's deer, who was drinking from a small river that bisected the forest. Its coat was clean and it seemed to have been well fed.
"It will make the perfect base for a new cloak or tunic. While its meat would be used to feed our sisters." Orana thought as she drew her bow back. The leather of the string squeaked quietly as the bow bent.
But before she could take the shot, the deer's head shot up. Frantically looking around as if it had heard something move. It then spun. Scanning the forest behind it for some unseen predator, before dashing away. Disappearing into the darkness of the woods.
"Malaka!" Orana spat as she lowered her bow. She then turned to see what her sister was doing that could have startled the deer. Only to find Menalippe slowly looking around. Her eyes narrowed and face contorted in concentration and confusion.
"Menalippe?" Orana questioned. Pulling the brunette's attention towards her. "What's wrong?"
"Don't you hear that?" Menalippe asked.
Orana stared at her sister in confusion. Around her, the sounds of the forest suddenly quieted. Leaving only the sound of water running over rock from the small river nearby. She turned and slowly slid her gaze around the surrounding forest and trees. Looking for the predator that could cause all the birds and prey to flee. It wouldn't be the first time that they had run across a minotaur or chimera. Like the deer, the island seemed to populate them randomly across its landscape.
"I'm not hearing anything." Orana answered as she looked back at her sister.
The two Amazons then descended into silence. The stillness around them felt unnatural, as if the very air held its breath, waiting for some unseen danger to reveal itself. Orana's grip tightened on her bow, her muscles coiled with readiness, while Menalippe's brow furrowed in concentration, her keen senses straining to detect any sign of disturbance.
Then, a low, rumbling sound echoed through the trees, like distant thunder rolling across the sky. The two Amazons dashed into the clearing next to the river and looked up. Spotting a large, dark fireball rocketing towards the island. A trail of dark smoke followed closely behind as it fell. The earth then shook as it passed above them. Seemingly almost touching the tops of the trees around them, before it disappeared from view behind the trees.
Orana and Menalippe stood gobsmacked in the middle of the forest. Eyes blown wide and wondering what manner of beast or contraption that could have been. They turned slowly towards one another, seeking assurance that the other had seen it as well. Only to be knocked to their knees as the ground leapt beneath them and a distant crash echoed through the forest.
The forest then quieted again as the two laid frozen on the ground. Waiting for the next explosion or shockwave that would never come. After a few minutes, they pulled themselves from the earth and returned shakily to their feet.
"What in the name of the gods was that?" Orana questioned.
Menalippe stayed silent as she stared in the direction of the object. A pillar of smoke now rising from its new resting place.
Eventually, she spoke, "I know not." Her voice steady, if a little bit confused.
Orana shook her head, disbelief evident in her eyes. "We need to inform the queen. Whatever that was, she needs to be informed."
The two then lapsed back into silence as they both looked towards the smoke on the horizon. A sense of foreboding filled the air around them as the forest became completely silent. The two women turned towards the small river, only to find that the water was no longer flowing. Instead, the river had dried up. As the object had blocked its source.
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"Status?"
"Well, we're not dead." Phoebe deadpanned as she powered up the holotable again. Her avatar reappearing on its edge.
"Status?" Grim repeated as if he hadn't asked already.
"One second… The reactor is offline and I don't think we'll be able to run it beyond twenty percent without some major refits. I'm also reading that engines six, eight, and nine are damaged and need new components to be repaired. On the positive side of things, Cryo, the armory, the cafeteria, officer's quarters, manufacturing suite, and armor hall all seem undamaged. Our Packages are also fine, if a bit shaken." Phoebe listed off.
"How about the hull's structure?"
Phoebe scowled at the holo display as it switched to show a blown up picture of their prowler. "We got breaks, cracks, tears, and holes all over the place. We also managed to crash into some sort of hill or dirt mound. So most of the ship is covered in dirt and rock. Based off my scans, I'd say only our engines and the hangar bay are visible from the surface."
"Any idea what planet we crashed into?"
Phoebe paused as she crossed her right arm across her body and settled her left elbow on its forearm and pressed her left hand to her lips. Grim's golden gaze snapped to her figure as he waited for the AI's response.
"That…that is a very good question." Phoebe answered. Looking up towards Grim before the holotable shifted again. This time, a scan of the planet appeared.
"Earth?" Grim questioned as he stared at the holographic globe.
"Yes….. but also no." Phoebe answered. "Look, there's no space elevators or Super-Heavy MACs in orbit. Plus, Africa hasn't been glassed and the Amazon Rainforest is back to early twentieth century levels."
Grim turned back to the AI. His head tilted in silent question.
"I won't know more without additional data." Phoebe said as she stared at the globe.
"Time travel?" Grim asked.
"No. Slipspace exists as a dimension outside of normal physics and understanding, but that doesn't mean it doesn't adhere to the laws of the natural order. One of which is time." Phoebe explained.
"Guesses?" Grim pressed.
Phoebe huffed out another sigh. "Best guess is that we're in some sort of alternate reality or universe. Without more data I won't be able to tell which."
"How?" Grim asked. His tone breaking from his normal stoic tone and projecting a bit of awe.
"I don't know. Maybe there's something in the cargo hold that ONI left off the books, or we activated something during our escape to cause a temporal shift. Either way, we're not going anywhere until we fix those engines and reactors. So, hop to it smiles." Phoebe answered with a grin.
Grim snorted, "I hate that nickname."
"That's why I use it." Phoebe answered lightly as her grin grew wider.