35 (DSV Nautica) Realization
"Lyn...Lyn! Pull it up!""Im tryin-NO! Its not going to work!"The Thanatos came out way too close to the planet. They hit something in orbit. Then something else. Then ten other things. Then a hundred. Whatever they were hitting was knocking them around pretty badly to the point that they were falling into the atmosphere. The engines were too weak to compensate for the gravity. Lyn had no choice but to start reentry and a crash landing. All that was left to do was to make sure that the ship came in at an angle and didn't fall like a stone."We have detected sentience at this location, steering away.""Will they see us?""Ohhh yeah." Lyn groaned. It was normally forbidden. They didn't have a choice.The Thanatos was bellowing like a wounded animal, impact alarms sounded all over the ship. The shuddering floor didn't make anything easier either."We...we gotta go! We have to go!"Lyn ripped herself out of the pilots chair, breaking in a full sprint off the bridge. Flare stared after her before looking around at the team, then tapping into the whole ship. "You heard her. Get to the launch bay. We gotta get out of here.
The black hull of the ship was etched in fire as it entered the atmosphere. Hurling at hypersonic speeds toward the surface of the planet, they could only hope it hit dry land, containing the damage. But they all knew it would hit the ocean. Lyn paused. She had an idea. While the rest of the ship was evacuating, she accessed the nearest control panel, furiously typing in commands, putting together a script for navigation. She wasn't gonna let this flying hulk tsunami this planet out of existence.Aki stared at the glowing orb toward the solar-systems center. Their sun was a beautiful thing to behold. It was their life-giver. She couldn't imagine a world anywhere without a sun. "Captain, they are ready." The acolyte nodded to her. Aki stood at attention. Technically, these acolytes were far above her in rank. While not part of the military arm, they sure were of greater authority. She slowly entered the council chamber. There were only 3 council members in there, but it felt like the whole empire decided to watch her.
"Captain, please have a seat."Aki took her seat quickly, keeping her hands on her knees, trying not to seem too uptight, but failing horribly."Captain, I'm certain that you have no idea why we are here. So I will make it brief. What do you know of the Eidolon Scrolls?"Aki shook her head. "An old legend. Supposedly the portal to massive troves of knowledge set up by our fore-bearers, but all evidence points to the scrolls as merely being the conduit used to contact Celeste." She felt a little pride in how fast she was able to recount that to them. She quickly quelled it though. They were especially attuned to the feelings of others. "At least
thats what I have been told. Personally, I never dealt with the legends of the Scrolls.""Indeed you are correct Captain. That is the official story."Aki felt a surge of curiosity mixed with that feeling of 'Oh great...'"Your 'episode' on the Erebus was no coincidence...It was an attempt by Celeste to contact us."Aki felt a lump in her throat. She swallowed it and had to use a good portion of self control to not have an outburst.
"W...What?""I am aware that it is a massive amount to comprehend, but It is true. Celeste has fallen out of our range. Celeste used you as a last ditch attempt to contact us. Using you as a bridge, we received one last message from Celeste."The room was filled with silence."We will give you some time to comprehend the details. If you have any questions, you may ask.""...Why me?""Celeste locked onto the strongest individual that it could find. Not necessarily in will, but in subconscious fortitude. You were the best one to carry the message." The council members were solemn in breaking the news to Aki. Rather unlike their normal interrogative methods."What...was the message?"Silence. Damn. She may have overstepped her boundaries Surprising how easy that was."Tell her." A voice floated from the far side of the room.Aki broke into a sweat. As did everyone else."...A code. Information as to the location of the Eidolon Scrolls." Silence again.A chair moved at the far end. A shadowed figure sat in it, compensating Aki and the council members at the far end. Aki didn't need an introduction to know who that was.
"The Eidolon Scrolls are real. They are not scrolls in the traditional sense, but portals to an alternate dimension in which information is stored...In abundance. The scrolls let us discern this information."Thus returned the silence. For what seemed like hours , the silence endured as all present contemplated the words spoken."H...How?" Aki managed to ask."Celeste has ancient technology, made by our forefathers. The methods are lost to time, but they still exist. Celeste is...special. Its not only an exploratory vessel.""Then, what is it?""A magicka-quantum superprocessor. A computer designed to process the mysteries of the universe at speeds and efficiencies long lost. The computer is said to be capable of accurately emulating reality itself and dilating time to come up with answers to problems that take millions of years...in seconds here. The ultimate, all knowing machine. Is now across the universe.Aki was shocked at this revelation. The Celeste was an icon for the entire empire as their greatest achievement, and it had been seriously underestimated.
"How long has this been known?" "Only since you were used as
the bridge. The Celeste explained everything. Only the inner council knows about this. And you."The Thanatos tore across the sky, carving a swath through the clouds. The pressure wave from its entry was creating absurd winds on the mainland, the trees rocking violently as it passed. The ships nose dipped, angling at the water. Blue streaks flew away from its launch bay, Flares team abandoning the sinking ship. Lyn was still inside. She had to correct the course to the last minute before she could abandon ship. Yes! She had done it, the ship was on the correct angle, and would gracefully dive into the water with minimal impact. She booked it for the exit, but was thrown down the hall as the Thanatos hit the ocean. She barely managed to conjure up a shield for herself, and to harden her suit to cusion herself, before she impacted the bulkhead. She felt something snap in her chest, strangely no pain. Her head spun and vision blurred. The rumbling had stopped. But the the deck swayed under her feet. The ship was in the water.
Flare and the team watched, suspended on their boards, as the ship hit the water, angled ju.st right. It made one hell of a splash regardless, black hull disappearing under the waves. Their hopes sank with the ship. They had no way to get off the planet and get home now. They formed a lazy circle around flare."Ok, listen up. We can hope that the captain will figure out where we went, but we cant rely on it..."She could see the disappointment in their eyes."We have to make camp...and maybe home.Lyn pulled herself up, and promptly started falling backward. She grabbed onto the bulkhead to steady herself. The floor was angled down behind her and getting steeper. Not to mention it was dark as hell. She snapped her fingers and lit a small hovering orb of will energy. The will conduits shorted out. Damn. She ran forward as fast as she could, turning this way and that toward the launch bay. The silence was eerie. No other sounds at all, so silent she could hear the blood rushing through her ears. Then she heard it. Water. Rushing water. Bringing up a bullet shaped shield in front of her, she plunged head on into the darkness. The water would hit her at any moment. Then it came. It wasn't rumbling. It was thundering.