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May 2023 It's been hectic this last year, but we are alive and celebrating our fifth year of adventure and tales. A lot has been worked on to help make the Monoverse one that everyone can enjoy and explore their story while becoming a part of the greater cosmos. All of you, new and long time players, stay safe, and see you in the Sea of Stars!
The cold empty of slipspace swirled around them as the unlikely pair raced through subspace. The wake left by the larger vessel was enough for the converted fighter to reach transit speeds it otherwise could not on its own.
A sudden flare as the opening emerged to deposit them back into normalspace, the dark of the void burned away by the brilliant flaring star that lay ahead of them. The journey inward from the gravitational borders of the cluster had been almost ten hours, leaving some time for any planning or forming of strategies. Standard spatial scans would reveal a planetary system of five worlds, with the beacon source coming from the fourth planet; a large sphere with a minor system of rings, pools of blue-green that could be water, and a massive scar along the northern hemisphere that ended in a deep visible crater.
And the signal itself was emanating from a vessel that hung in a decaying orbit, a frigate just over four hundred and fifty meters in length, that resembled a terran prawn in its design structure with a series of scaffolds and pylons that connected minimal decks of flooring, like a haphazardly constructed landing deck, to its starboard side that was not large enough for a grounded landing by the Dancing Goddess. The only radio transmission was the repeating distress beacon.
“Looks like something made quite an entrance down there.“ Alex said to Seeker, nodding at the crater. They were drifting in silence, her having turned off her collection of vintage music. She wasn't sure her companion appreciated it either way. It was kind of difficult to gauge his mood at times. The low hum of the little fighter's engines remained the only soundtrack to their journey for now.
The Terminus flitted around the Goddess, this way and that like a small sparrow, never far from the protective sphere of the superior firepower the bigger ship might need to bring to bear. She scanned their surroundings, pushing forward a little towards to the derelict vessel. ”We could probably set down over there. What do you think?“
The robot had started running some music files internally, traditional imperial marches of course, and was silently nodding along to them in the quiet cockpit; he did not quite understand the superfluous maneuvering being done, but practice for real combat scenarios was a possibility that crossed his mind.
"The Vessel is quite enigmatic, this one does think that investigation would be a good idea, yes."
A quick double check over his equipment, and he was ready.
"Recommend bringing personal air supply and full face covering, even if there is breathable atmosphere it may become tainted with aerosolized irritants."
Post by Eliza Silvermantle on Feb 16, 2021 0:23:26 GMT
As Eliza made her final approach towards the frigate, she made note of initial scans, then quietly ordered Veska to run a more focused sweep of the ship, and of the planet below in order to discern any indicators of why Kromus might be calling for help. While the gynoid carried these orders out, she then took a calming breath before chanting softly, weaving arcane energies to shape her human frame into that of a Qymor Kromus. Once the spell was complete, she experimentally spoke a few lines of what she did know, making sure she was familiar enough with her borrowed shape to pass. If her ruse failed, then stealth options might become more difficult. Then again, it was already a challenging mission, the Witch mused.
Steeling herself, Eliza reached to tap her console with a clawed fingertip, opening a comms channel with the frigate. "Why do you have your distress beacon active, frigate?" she questioned without preamble, deciding that if nothing else, she could pass herself off as a lone pirate that had responded out of mere curiosity, and hoped nothing would be made of her lack of identification. "I have supplies, should you require, but I do not see where I can land my vessel." With any luck, no questions would be asked, and Veska's scans would pick up what they needed to know. In the back of her mind, though, she suspected it would be so easy. Things rarely ever were.
A crackle of static in response. On another channel, a distress message continued to repeat itself, layered with what sounded like the panicked screeches of a mixed group of Kromus while the primary message was hard to translate, due to how complex the various Kromus dialects were.
But no answer came. Silence from real time communications. On the upside, no defense systems would turn the ship's armaments on the intruders. It seemed to be, for purposes, a ghost ship.
But something was alive. Thermals detected multiple heat sources that could be filtered out from power centers and mechanical sources. And something was moving.
Post by Eliza Silvermantle on Feb 16, 2021 1:34:11 GMT
Eliza frowned as she listened for a bit longer, then cut transmission on her end before dropping her spell in order to return to her natural form. "Veska, clean that up best ye can. Looks like our friends here dinna fare so well, and I want ta know as much as possible before we board. We are na havin' a repeat of last mission," she all but growled, as if angered by fate itself. Which might not have been entirely inaccurate, given the similarities thus far.
"Terminus, be advised, hails are unresponsive. Further comms attempts indicate high likelihood original crew is dead or dyin'. Circle about, check fer any additional access points that might accept larger vessels. Do na board until I give th' all clear," she added with emphasis. "Thermals are showin' there might still be lifeforms, likely th' cause of th' distress beacon, given th' lack of apparent damage ta th' ship itself. Understood?" Eliza asked. As she waited for an answer, she briefly looked toward her companion, hoping she might have answers of her own.
The expression the gynoid regarded her companion with was hardly reassuring, to put it mildly, though Eliza was bitterly unsurprised. "It was hard to make much out, but the best I could manage was that some sort experiment broke loose. There was mention of research at a crater, though I can only guess at what that might mean. I don't think I need to explain that roar, though," Veska remarked. "If I were to guess? The Kromus were playing with some manner of indigenous fauna from a crater on the planet below, and it escaped containment. And I'd say it's quite large and aggressive."
"Aye, that sounds about right fer my luck," Eliza groused as she turned to make her way to the armory. "Let them know, aye?"
"Of course," the AI answered, attempting to provide a level al calm she didn't at all feel before turning to the comms control. "Seeker? How much explosives do you have on hand?" she questioned.
Turning off his radio, he'd look up at Chalet "Was she not the one who desired radio silence, this seems rather unprofessional. We should all have the same quantity of explosives, unless of course either one of you have additional supply."
Looking over at the hulking derelict, with all it's disgraceful design flaws, he'd continue
"What need would we have for large quantities of explosives anyway, if we were to scuttle the ship simply firing on it till it fell apart ought suffice."
Stabilizing jets would fire as the converted interception fighter known as the Terminus came around to the landing platform and slowly touched down. The stealth black painted transport ship that was six times the length of its smaller and far older companion was forced to take position via velocity match, too big to use the landing array.
The EVA trek was made easy enough by Lockheed in her newly updated armored suit, and as the magnetics of her boots would catch to the metal of the deck platform, the lack of any defense grid responses would sit as an unmissable detail.
It was quiet. And for being a Kromus frigate, that said quite a bit.
Post by Eliza Silvermantle on Feb 26, 2021 2:23:09 GMT
Eliza set her teeth as she moved across the platform, unsettled by the utter lack of Kromus response even further now that she was actually on the derelict's surface. "Right, so comms silence over. Any Kromus here are either dead or well on their way," she announced as she approached the other two. "However, our scans picked up lifesigns, and there's somethin' on this thing that's very likely large and aggressive. Potentially massive enough ta present an issue fer our weapons, dependin' on what it is. If either of ye detect somethin' that might be a problem, say somethin'," the Witch added as she started towards the airlock. "Oh, Also brought a few extra grenades fram th' Frontier, if ye want ta try those out. Gods know ye've been generous enough wi yer own."
The Imperial would make his way from the small fightercraft to the nearest door inside the alien vessel, using his grav-harness to float over without worrying about handholds or an admittedly unwise lack of magnetic footwear. He'd pull out his MgP and rest the other hand on his shockblade, looking to the armoured D'Arc, waiting for her to figure out whatever controls these xenos used. He'd never conducted a boarding action before, but he'd heard they were not all that dissimilar from subterranean combat.
As the mercenaries would approach the entryway, the irised doorway would shudder a moment before retracting the section panels into the entryway frame. A few pieces of scrap would float out of the entrylock, leaving the way for the human and machine to make their own next move.
Post by Eliza Silvermantle on Mar 10, 2021 3:13:13 GMT
Eliza moved from the control panel as the door irised open, intending to enter with one of her MARS drawn. "Right, Manwë, give us a scan, and keep an eye. Hostile environment protocols," she ordered the AI installed into her armor. "So Seeker, ye have any experience wi orbital salvage operations or boardin' actions?" the woman queried of the other AI, entering the corridor while toggling through her visor modes as a cold knot slowly started to form in the pit of her stomach. This was just a Kromus ship, she told herself. The Event Horizon was an anomaly. It couldn't possibly happen again. The doubt persisted, though, and after a minute of walking the silent corridor, the Witch caved, needing to silence the half-buried fear. See, a perfectly mundane ship, she told herself as she looked around slowly, using her mana scanner to analyze the arcane nature of the area. Wait. Eliza wasn't entirely certain if she spoke the curse aloud, or simply thought it, but the specks of inky black sent a chill like few things ever could. Scenes of a tortured hellscape of a ship surged to the fore of her thoughts as Eliza fought back her panic. "Seeker, move wi caution. Arcane shite in th' area. Veska, we might have a problem.." she warned, trying to determine just what in the hell she'd just gotten herself into. It wasn't the ship itself, at least, but those points of void weren't something she would soon forget. "Alex, best ye pull back ta yer ship. Jist picked up somethin' ye're na equipped fer. I'll give an all clear once it's sorted."
Back on the Dancing Goddess, Veska frowned as she digested the news. Not good at all, she mused. Though being a Macro AI, and thus not capable of dreams as her companion was, her own encounter with the eldritch entity they'd had to combat had done all but give her nightmares, and she'd heard Eliza's night terrors in the weeks after the incident. Another similar event might be more than even Eliza's seasoned psyche could take. "I'll make preparations as needed," she answered after a few seconds of deliberation.
"Yes, this one is aware that is it semi-arcane, unless of course you are referring to the surrounding area. It is trained in subterranean combat, as are all imperials, and it has heard that war in tunnels is not too dissimilar from war in starships."
Seeker would simply step in behind the witch, expanding his vision to include infra-red as he began surveying the area. Heat sources would be of great interest, either functioning technology or creatures to be examined, he would be content with either.
The silence of space permeated what normally would have been the thumps of boots against metal deck as the machine man and the mercenary witch would enter. Bits of metal, scrap waste, and a pair of small lifeless and frosted over creatures drifted in the nearly weightlessness of the frigate's entry lock.
A scan would show that the control panel ahead would activate the pressurization systems, and restore artificial gravity in the section of the frigate they were in. Further examination would seem to reveal all else as normal.
Post by Eliza Silvermantle on Mar 13, 2021 16:09:20 GMT
"I'm aware ye have some basic arcane talent, Seeker," Eliza replied as she warily moved up to examine the control panel, briefly pausing to translate the instructions on the panel before reaching for the surface. "Eldritch horror sort of readings is what I mean, It might na be as bad as I'm worried, but ye should be advised all th' same. Standby. Repressurizin' and bringin' artificial gravity online in 3, 2, 1.." she warned as she keyed in the commands to bring the relevant systems online. "Here's hopin' this much works, at least," she muttered. "Veska, any new data on th' fuck off beastie we detected? I'd rather na run blindly into somethin' that size if I can help it."
