33 (DSV Nautica) Out of power, Out of time
Lyn bowed her head, her hair hiding her face. "Ill do better...""If you don't, no more pep talks."Flare returned to the captains chair, taking a seat and pulling the ship status map. Several sections of the ship were completely dark. The rest was in the red. Most troubling was the FTL drive. It was draining so much power. They wouldn't have the power left for a wormhole jump, nor would they have the time to recharge the core for a jump before dragons destroyed them."Zhi.""Yes?""We need more power, and we need it now, or we won't make it. I know what you are gonna say. Save it. We need the power or it will shut down and drop out."Zhi contemplated this for a moment, trying to figure something out a method for power generation. He tapped a few commands in, bringing up a few of the FTL drive specs that were damaged. Being the only one in the engineering room was a creepy feeling to say the least. It would normally be staffed by as many as 30 crew. Not one. Only the dull hum of the conduits. "Okay. I've got an idea, but you wont like it."
"Goes without saying. Continue.""I'm going to sever some damaged FTL drives. They are propelling us, but bleeding power, and some are consuming power, but not propelling. We need to offline all the severely damaged drives. We will fly slower, but we will more than make it.""..." Zhi got no response."Flare?"Flare knew what that meant. They needed to get to the center of the galaxy in a set amount of time, or miss the resonance alignment. With Zhi's plan they WOULD miss it. Without the plan, they would run out of power and drift. And the dragons would find them."Zhi...find another way if you can. Enact your plan at the last moment if you can't""Alright."Zhi tapped a few commands into the console. A door opened at the rear of the ship, revealing a corridor in stark contrast to the rest of the ship. All Ayr'een ships were smooth inside, with very few imperfections for door controls, chairs, beds, etc. But this room had twisting and turning pipes, moving wheels and turbines inside the pipes, as well as outside. It was a maze of machinery outside the internal ship living space.
He grimaced and began a perilous walk out to the rear of the ship to diagnose the FTL drives, and if needed, disconnect the individual cells. That would require dropping out though. Well fuck, the day just kept getting better and better.He held onto the pipes with both hands, keeping his eyes on his feet, so he didn't take a 100 meter fall, hitting pipes and structural supports all the way down. Falling straight wouldn't be an issue, but slipping, hitting his head, and blacking out would make for a quick and gruesome end. He would probably be the wallpaper at the end of it.Typing in consoles along the way, balancing
perilously, he shut down the power to the FTL cells that were damaged. Alarms screamed as the ship abruptly decelerated in FTL, causing Zhi to hurl over the railing and down into the darkness, despite having braced himself for the event.Flare was thrown out of her chair, the rest of the crew sliding toward the front of the ship. The inertial dampeners had done the best they could, but it wasn't enough.
The Erebus had finally made it back to the resonance point, but the Thanatos was nowhere to be found. They only had a few hours before resonance destabilization. They had to go now."De'an, make the jump...""Indeed, Captain."The dragons sent to kill the Erebus were once again unsuccessful, as the cruiser hurled out of the galaxy, back towards home.The Thanatos was not so lucky. They would be trapped in AU-945, AKA the milky way, for quite some time.Lay'Kay'ee'n strode down the hall, attracting nervous glances from the crew, and even more nervous thoughts from everyone, crew and civilian. Her reputation preceded her by a great deal. She was the only spaceship captain to have survived AU-945...Five times. The last time she had lost her ship and crew, yet she returned. An extensive inquiry was launched, but never concluded. That pretty much meant whatever she did was highly classified, and their leadership wanted it swept under the rug.This had led to a rather insidious nickname that she was more than happy to adopt. Loki.
Her shrewdness and trickster behavior was only matched by her looks. She was the ideal female for any male, but it was not likely that any male would act on their thoughts. They would stay thoughts.The Mors. The first real killing machine built by the Ayr'een empire. The technology was unlike anything that had been revealed thus far. The conduits were completely different, interfacing with new harmonic will frequencies that would target and destroy dragons much easier. How the builders had gotten their hands on that information was still a mystery. No dragon had ever been captured for study. How this system could interface and harmonize with their will frequencies was a total mystery. The matriarch had already boarded the Mors with utmost secrecy. The real power on board wasn't for the general populace to know quite yet. Not until they were sure that it was safe.Loki proceeded to the captains quarters. The ship was bustling with activity, getting ready for its maiden voyage. She sealed the doors behind her, ignoring the guards at the door. The cloaked figure in the corner of the room spoke briefly.
"I'm placing my trust in you, Captain, with one of our greatest artifacts.""I'm aware, My Matriarch. The Eidolon scroll will be safe on this ship."The Matriarch handed Loki a long tube, made from a shiny, silver metal that
seemed to swim, as if liquid. Loki bowed and headed back toward the door. The guards cloaked, as both them and the Matriarch made themselves scarce. They were never here. Loki hurried toward the bowels of the ship. Officially it was just mechanics down here, but the truth was far different. The scroll she now held would power this ship. It would end anything they ran into. Dragon or other wise."Captain, we have been instructed to move to the Bifrost site for the first mission. We await you on the bridge.""I trust you. Go, now.""Uhh...captain? Is everything alright?""You have your orders pilot, Go. Now."The ship lurched as it pulled out of its dry dock, aligning for the FTL jump. Loki reached the Scroll room, a large circular room with a stand, and several tools suspended from the ceiling on mechanical arms that looked more like torture tools than ship mechanics. She set the silver case on the podium, locking the ends in place. A small clamp inserted into the slit on the bottom side, and pulled the scroll open. Loki tore her gaze away, but she still felt the effects. The room shook at the scrolls opening. Odd symbols floated in her vision. Some bizarre cross between constellations and mathematical symbols, never staying consistent long enough for her to get a clear look at them. Her vision whitened, as if there was a very powerful ambiance in the room. Her back, to the scroll, felt hot. She waited. The tools from the ceiling began descending, the probes all converging on the podium. Loki tapped into the ships reserves and shielded her mind, preparing to look upon one of the greatest achievements of their forefathers.