Colony 5309 Story

Posted on wall inside the Hibernation Chamber of a class 304FA Commercial Transport, lies a note. An Intergalactic Ship that crashed way outside any normal commercial or cargo routes. That crashed on what was going to be Colony 5309. A Colony Project that was abandoned due to an unknown disturbance that seems to circumnavigate the outermost atmosphere of the planet shutting down all electronics and preventing transmission from the surface to anything in the space. When the first colony ship tried to land it crashed. Placing the planet under “useless/non-cost effective to colonize abandon all assets and surrender custody to intergalactic free space”.

Layman translation:“No one gives a shit about this place and no one will come near it if they can help it.”


The note:
<Written Document Begin>
I’m Captain Warrick, a middle-ranking officer of the Terran Space Fleet. Due to a space distortion surrounding the Planet Colony 5309 my ship crashed on entry. Very much like the civilian colony ship form a few centuries ago was reported to have done. The space distortion disrupts communication and travel.

I’m lucky to survive. The hibernation chamber controls are destroyed and it appears the only exit to the hiber-chamber is the internal manual controls like I used to exit. If the subjects are still alive forcing the hatch open will kill them. I’ll just have to wait and see if any come out on their own. I’m leaving this note here for any that exit.

You may be interested to know that this ship was transporting a mixture of military and civilian personal from several walks of life and background. Non-human entities may be present but at this time are unknown. If you leave this ship please fill out the log entry and a brief description of your self for others that may exit. I’ve no data yet on the possible inhabitants of this planet other than the original were a standard civilian colony group composed of select scientists and their families. It will have been many generations now if they survived. I’ll check back periodically and enter details as they develop. I’ve found an active service robot and will attempt to secure shelter and small garden for food in the event others survive, or I’m all alone.

I've retrieved my personal items from storage. Attempts to retrieve others items failed. Going to explore this area.

God be with us.


Capt. Warrick out!
<Written Document END>

/ooc For FAQ and OOC Colony 5309 OOC

/OOC Thanks for the Edit Original_Cyn2

Memo to UTSF

/IC

Written Document
<begin>
August 16, 0001 Local
Memorandum

From: Captain Aaron Jacob Warrick, UTSF
To: UTSF TANGO Command

Via:
UTSF PAPA Command
UTSF NOVEMBER Command

Subj:
SELF DISCHARGE DUE TO OUT OF COMMUNICATION RANGE OFF ORDERS CRASH

Reference:
OPFLEETCOM 5012.5F
RELCOMORD 1035.4C
UTMJOINTORD 6631.1A

1. I Captain Aaron J. Warrick of the United Terran Space Fleet (UTSF) hereby discharge self under OPFLEETCOM Current Version (CV) out of range of communications standing orders (ORCSO) by Admiral Huntington. Due to the current situation I am unable to asset the assists and/or Enemies of the fleet due to lack of intelligence of area and persons and or entities I encounter. From this moment forward I am no longer representing the UTSF or governing bodies. If any members are encountered in any branch of United Terran Military I will inform and document accordingly the current status or change of activity in accordance with UTMJOINTORD (CV).


Very Respectfully,

Signed

Aaron J. Warrick UTSF
Written Document <END>

After reading the third draft I seem to have all in order. I've done a perimeter search of the area and posted a sign and map on the inner part of the hiber-chamber. Anyone awaking will know were to find the camp I’ve had the service robot setup. The ships computer is completely out of order. I spend over 10 hours looking over the written manuals and keep ending up at "Return to base for Service." apparently the operating systems backup media didn't survive along with the bulk of the communications section of the ship. The living corridor, gallery and hiber-chamber and personal storage are intact. Guess this Universal Personal Transport Vessel was setup for a crash. Had it been a bit better communications would have survived. Engineering, armory, secondary storage and communications all destroyed. Maybe some genius could salvage parts. I’m working with the service robot that survived to remove parts of the Hull to establish a permanent base camp. One older class 703 Service Robot is all that survived. Standard Colony, Cargo worker with most basic labor commands. This one houses welding and underwater capabilities.

The ship crashed in what appears to be the upper part of a valley in temperate climate part of the planet. The lower valley hosts a good size river from apparent ice caps further north of the valley/crash sight. The end of the valley has a rather large field that could easily be set up with crop for food source. Seeds were recovered. If only I had a biologist to assets the indigenous plant life as a food source. Small mammals have been spotted I would classify as rodents. No large game or predators have been spotted. But noticing no large game makes me feel safe. Some aviary creatures have been spotted but I haven’t identified their diet yet. I’m starting to wonder if anyone else will awaken. How long will I be alone. it's been a few days already.

/OOC Thanks for the Edit Original_Cyn2

Home Camp.

it's been about a week now and Using the welding capabilities of the service robot and the hull of the ship I’ve been working on a dwelling. We have established a make shift wagon the service robot can pull. I’ve been filling it with rock from around the valley and crushing it to make stone sod for the foundation of a permanent dwelling. I’ve no idea how many people may arrive out of the ship so I’m leaving room for additions. Making it square, I’ve found a quarry outside the valley with a substance much like marble. I’m having the service robot use it’s welding capabilities to cut as large of blocks as he can manage him self and return back with it and place them on the sod. This floor will survive all but a direct military attack. I was debating on using the same marble for the walls. Maybe later if I’m bored I can place them outside the recovered hull walls.

Um… spaceship-hull wall with gray marble flooring sounds like something some one might actually order. I’ve found some solar paneling. Sense the ship I crashed on was only a travel vessel it didn’t have much. It will be limited to lighting and maybe a few electronic devices. Life support and environmental controls couldn’t be powered. Maybe if I had some help and place some kind of wheel on the river I could make a small mill. Well not this summer maybe next year. Is it summer here certainly feels like it. I’m working in just shorts, my chest and back are really bronzing. Sweating majorly while I’m shoveling the sod into the foundation hole we’ve built. I’ve no idea what hemisphere we’re on. I was a passenger returning from vacation not part of the crew.

I’ve already come to terms with being alone a long time. At this point in time anyone not homicidal would be welcomed. Having conversation with this service robot is about as entertaining as readying a 5000 page tech manual on a system not only that's obsolete but you don’t need. Ah here it comes with that wagon. Dang not bad looks like a 1 x 1 X 1 Meter block. No two.

“Calculated maximum mass per distance and determined two cubed meter blocks will be most efficient.”

“Good easy to measure as well. How many blocks by sun rise today?” I request from the service robot.

“5 minutes travel , 2 hours to extraction. 30 min travel return. 15 min placement. 12 sir”, it responds.

“You’re a 703 series right?” I ask.

“Correct” it responds.

“Have you been given a nick name?” I ask.

“Yes sir. Ohthree.” Ohthree responds.

“Nice, OK Ohthree. 12 till sun rise? But sun is at it’s zenith,” I say, as it sinks in. Overly long days.

“Sir, I’ve calculated this planets rotation is almost exactly 35 hours. Sir sun set is at 2500 local hours sir..” Ohthree responds.

“This is going to be a head-ache. Well the crops will love it. Think I’ve got some bamboo seed. This will gives us some basic building materials for baskets or temporary shade and tents. I’ll be running from crash site to what will from now be called home camp.”

Ohthree finishes laying the two blocks in the corners of what will be the first 5 X 5 meter room. I’ll bring a bunk. Maybe two from the crash site. Maybe someone else will wake up when I get there.

/OOC Thanks for the Edit Original_Cyn2

T'ekag-e-rdr

In the shadows of a tree, Tek watched the construct ferry cubes of marble to the crash site. He lazily reclined on a tree branch eating one of the local fruit, watching the work done. He mused about an ancient human song he had heard about lousing about on a shipdock. The construct was definetly of human design, although he didn't know where from. If they were from one of the worlds his people was allied with, he may go and speak to them. At some point. If not, he told himself, they might prove worthy prey for the glorious hunt...unless they proved interesting enough to talk to. The construct stopped in his labor and looked in Tek's direction. One eye opened on Tek's head as he wondered if the bot would be able to distinctly identify whether or not the K'kraali was indeed there. He swayed with the tree in the wind as if a part of it. His skin and blood as cool as the wind that blew past them, he wondered if the construct would even acknoledge if it did see him. But it walked on, resuming it's business. So he did the same. Sweet, blissful vacation on a backwater planet far from any cares or responsibility.

Heaven.

Senior Warrant Officer Rod Jenkins:

Warrent Officer Jenkins woke and as soon as the cobwebs had cleared a bit knew something was amiss. No sounds or vibrations of a ship in transit nor the sounds of a ship on the ground, all things he'd grown very familiar with over his 20 years service.

He keyed the pad that was supposed to open his Hiber hatch and was rewarded with a mechanical *click*, but the hatch didn't open automatically as it should have.

His back was braced so his placed his calloused palms on the hatch and slowly began to exert his stregnth to see if it would open since it sounded as though the lock had.

Veins swelled as he exerted himself and muscles began to writhe and bulge as the hatch slowly and ponderously opened enough to allow the use of his legs.

To one and all, please help an Old and Venerable with a horrid memory and put character names in the subject box so I don't have to keep looking for 'em. *g* Thanks.

Feet and legs now took the place of hands and arms and with a convulsive thrust of his powerfully muscled thighs the hatch slammed back and Jenkins was greeted by blackness.

"Well fuck, another SNAFU or FUBAR I guess. (Acyronyms that survived the ages. *L)"

Dropping to a squat he slowly and carefully felt his way to the door hatch of the chamber and, once again using his muscle power, since this one didn't respond to the open pad, he set himself and slowly forced it to slide wide enough open to admit dim light and let him slip out of the chamber into a campanion way.

'First things first,' he thinks to himself as he heads for the personal storage area to retrieve his personal kit and weapons.

Once obtained and properly attired and outfitted a check of the ship shows others still in their Hiber Chambers and lets him read the note left by this Captain Warrick so he knows that at least he's not the only survivor.

A bit of truding around and he finds where hull panels have been removed and can see the tracks where they've been carted off. Hopping out of the dead ship Jenkins sits on a rock and assembles his primary weapon and loads it and his secondary then starts off along the track, presumably to meet this Captain Warrick

MedTech SSgt Alan Crowe - UTMC

Alan came to in the dark. Dark was NEVER a good thing on a spaceship, so adrenaline quickly started preparing him for a fight or flight situation - even though a shipboard emergency seldom required either solution.

He was still in his hibernation chamber - his freezer - but the freezers were never supposed to go completely dark. There was a slight humming, which told him that some residual power remained - but he was sure he'd been awoken because that power was beginning to fail in his section.

In normal circumstances the pod would already be opening. In emergency circumstances a tool by the side of the door could be used to manually open it - but not in the dark. A slighty hit of panic gripped him - but his training had given him the tools he needed to do this by touch - hopefully.

Clicking the release pins over the hinges he heaved at the door. It was damn heavy, but it eventually gave and Alan stepped into the main room. This was also dark apart from a few flickering red lights that depicted freezers who had catastrophically failed. The smell wasn't bad yet, but Alan knew that would change. What was worrying was the absence of Navy damage control teams, emergency lighting and tannoy announcements. That meant that the fight for the ship was over - and that meant anyone left here was in big, big trouble. Alan moved gropingly into the Personal Storage area to find clothes.

Stumbling for his locker, Alan dressed in the dark - donning his shipboard fatigues and grabbing his first responders bag. He also found his service pistol, which he wore in a chest rig like pilots, so it was away from his belt where a wounded soldier might grab it. Feeling a little more secure he worked his way into the main corridor and tried to orient himself.

Capt Warrick IC

Ahh the satisfaction of a job well done. The hyper-bamboo I planted next to the river has taken root. Two days and it is months past the original strain’s growth. Ohthree has also finished placing the solar panels on the dwellings roof. Now the robot is just finishing the irrigation. Shelter and about 5 acres of farm, that little guy can plow the hell out of a field. I’ve got about four rooms together now with solar panels charging battery powered lighting. Now I can hook up my portable computer. Damn the distortion field around this planet I can’t get to the internet and check the Lit boards. Oh well good thing I downloaded my favorites. I made one bunkroom, one food storage one extra and one makeshift office lounge with a couple of bamboo chairs. It Looks real funny on what I’d guess is high quality marble floors and metallic walls. Ten square meter dwelling in a week isn’t bad considering the few days it took me to find a good rock quarry.

I haven’t seen any local animals big enough to hunt but that doens’t mean they arn’t around. I learned a long time ago first week stranded, no matter what happens establishing shelter and a food source is mandatory. Some may disagree but not I have the comfort of exploring and having someplace to come back to in the event of an injury or other unforeseen element. The chemical emergency lighting of the ship has all but dissipated a few of those everlasting red blinking light things are all that can be seen in side the ship now. Ohthree and I dug up every battery we could find. Depending on whether someone awakened during night or day wouldl determine whether they can see my note or not. I think I’ll take a marble slab and place it in front of the ship detailing the area and documenting what has happened.

Dang I hope this place is not like that second assignment I had all those years ago. We landed on this planet and seemed like a great autumn, nice cool weather not cold only a few clouds here and there. Then in them middle of the night we woke up to subzero temperatures and a few meters of snow. Good think my commander at the time was paranoid as all hell. I remember all the complaining.

“It’s summer lets sleep under the stars… we don’t need tent’s.”

The day after that storm no one said a word. But I tell you no one questioned that man if he said wear your socks outside your shoes and stick your hat in your pants. We’d all do and a look around to see what’s coming.

Think I’ll go for a swim. I need to establish a Washing Area and a Drinking Area along the river. Ahh naked in the wilderness with no one around, hope I don’t enjoy it the rest of my life.

/OOC Thanks for the Edit Original_Cyn2

S.W.O. Rod Jenkins:

He kept his belt scanner on to detect any life signs within its range as he followed the broad path smashed through the foliage along the route taken by what or whoever had taken the hull plates. Hopefully a survivor.

After a long and peaceful stroll he crested a hill and saw a habitation below composed of Stone Sod compound, a white rock and the hull plates with solar panels on its roof.

Ever cautious Jenkins faded into the undergrowth and triggered his chameleon suit's cammo mode that activated the color threads to blend into their background flawlessly. A slow and cautious circle of the shelter revealed the garden plot and that no one seemed to be around.

Carefully he approached and stood to the side of the door as he Helloed. When there was no response he entered and looked through the inside.

Finding it empty he decided to wait and see who or what arrived and placed a chair in the obvious common room facing the main door. Taking a seat with his rail rifle facing the door he opened a ration pack and slowly began to eat.

Furiae Keras - human


Her senses feel like they are wrapped in cotton wool, fuzzy and somehow non-linear. She is barely able to find the presence of mind to hit the manual controls, releasing her from the confines of the hibernation chamber and stumbling blearily around the chill gloom of the antechamber before slumping to the cold plasti-form deck beneath her feet. How long she slumped there she couldn’t even begin to guess.

Slowly, as if rising from the depths of a murky pond her body shrugs off the chemical effects of the chamber and her eyes focus on a note pinned to the wall. A frisson of pure fear hits her system, flooding her with enough adrenaline to stumble to her feet. Things were wrong here, very, very wrong.

She reads the note three times and with each repetition she feels her spirits sink lower. She can sense the minds behind the shield of the hibernation chamber, slumbering away in ignorance but… How long had they been here? How old was she now?

Pushing away the shiver of panic that floods her she reaches out with her mind, intent on touching the quiescent minds locked away behind the mechanisms of the ship. Hours later, cold, stiff and weary to her very soul she quits, uncertain in the effect of her attempt. She’d touched a few of the less inert minds but would it be enough?

Shrugging off her torpor she tries to form a plan, picking her way through the lower bulkheads of the ship in search of necessities. In one compartment, surprisingly well preserved, she finds the exploratory kits and her hopes rise a little. At least she had the basics.

Packing a carryall with tenting and sleeping gear, some basic cooking implements and a plethora of other small, useful items she shrugs it onto her back, grunting beneath its weight and squares her shoulders, moving onward. Then, astounding her sense of possibility she runs down her own small carryall in another compartment, hugging it to her body like a lifeline.

Sweaty, tired and dirty she traipses back to the outer chamber of the hiberpod, tucking her fingers into an inner pocket of her carryall, her fingers caressing one of the anachronisms she is so well known for…well…used to be well known for.

Fishing out the kohl stick, a wave of sadness cascades through her remembering her mother’s laughing eyes as she’d given her the present, toted back from the far reaches of some backward planet. With a sigh she removes its cap and begins to write:

Name: Furiae Keras
Race: Human from the Iliad World in the Odysses Sector
Age: 28 years old

Physique:5’9” tall, 125#, long legged and willowy. Her genetics bear three of the most startling and recessive of the old human traits. Her startling red hair, long and unrestrained in a day and age space travel, brilliant emerald eyes, and a psi factor of 4. Her mental abilities fall to empathy and healing, although in times of stress she has been recorded in the kinetic factor

Education: Geology. When Furiae turned eight her mother chose to enter the Heptite Guild. For the next ten years she studied basic geology specializing in coruscating minerals and crystalline structure on the moon base Shankill.

Growing up within the confines of one of the galaxies busiest moon bases many of Furiae’s closest intimates were in service to the Terran Space Fleet. When, from the dim shadows of rumor and gossip that traveled the fleet, word had come through of the new colony on the outskirts of mapped space and new minerals, one of them crystalline in structure, she’d pulled in every favor, cashed in every chip to accompany the exploratory team…


Finishing her introduction note on the sheer plas of the wall Furiae picks up her gear and crosses over to the hatch, gaping to the outside, that she’d passed over earlier in her hunt for necessities. Her psi powers, dormant for so long, grasp sharply on the residuals of a human presence – male - that had traipsed these same footsteps in the not too distant past.

The tide of hope that floods her, warming her soul, gives her courage, boosting her out of the apathy that was encroaching. Cautiously, she lowers her carryall through the aperture jumping after it to tumble into a heap in the bright, warm sunshine of a strange planets day.

The warmth of the sun on her pale skin is sweet delight after the…no, she doesn’t want to think about that. Scrambling down the embankment her eyes take in the valley spread out below her.

Feeling her breath catch in her throat she fights the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. It’s beautiful, stunning really…the dazzling blue of the sky reflecting back off the shimmering blue water of a large river at the valleys far end, amber waves of some type of grain flowing in the gentle breeze next to its waters. The silence is deafening. Her ears and her internal senses struggle in the solitude of the moment.

Glancing to her right in the distance her eyes feast on the presence of a manmade structure and the sharp glitter of the sun off the service robot as it moves away from where she’s standing. Her emotions peak painfully, her senses delving ahead of her, ravenous in the need for mental contact.

Dimly, with little form or essence she senses life. Even as she does a small part of her mind is suffused with color, brilliant vibrant color and warmth so vivid it’s euphoric. Startled, she dampens her questing senses, throwing up shields to the unfamiliar rapture that incites her psyche, her eyes searching, bewildered, for its source. As suddenly as the alien sensation occurs, it disappears from her mind, leaving an aching sense of loneliness in its retreat. Puzzled, yet overjoyed with the visual confirmation of other beings, she sets out in the direction of the structure.

MedTech SSgt Alan Crowe - UTMC

The route to the Marine Squad bay had been fairly easy to locate. It was obvious from the state of the place that no Marines had been awake and using the place when it was hit. Alan hunted round for his field storage unit and armoury pod - loaded aboard with him from Earth - and began packing his gear as best he could in the dark.

Alan hoisted the medical supply bag up onto his back, taping it to the field pack containing his basic load. This might be a little more combat orientated than survival - but he figured he could always cache the extra ammo and come back for more food later.

He settled the helmet more firmly on his head, jumped up and down twice to settle his armour and pack more firmly and started the trek back to the message and the hole out to daylight.

He couldn't really believe the state of the ship - space combat usually saw vessels lightly damaged or destroyed, he'd never seen anything like this. He clutched his rifle, activating the torch beam which he used to sweep the route back. He saw a couple of crew bodies on the way, but these unfortunates had been dead a few days and seemed to have suffered impact injuries - at least shooting was unlikely.

Scanning their ID tags with the special scanner medics carried to book the dead, he turned his back on their remains. Few dead earned a ticket back to their home planet these days - a digital orison was about the economically viable limit. He thought he heard movement, a slithering of cloth against metal from down the corridor, but when he finally got to the hole nobody was in sight. A new log entry showed a survivor had passed this way, but Alan was loathe to write his own name there just in case there was some ulterior motive.

He stood, tapping his foot thoughtfully and pondering his next move.

Capt Warrick IC

You don’t have to be part of the T&T (Telepathy/telekinesis) Guild to sense something different in a situation like this. Warrick exits the water. Bronzed even more over the last week. Enhancing the already defined cut to his physique. Construction doesn’t require you to work out to keep in shape. Forgetting his Nakedness or perhaps the reason of the hair on the back of his neck standing up. He’s got that feeling of someone having him under their scope. He takes a deep breath hopeful to smell what he can’t see. Ohthree would be at the quarry now. He looks up the path to the ship and hope surpasses paranoia. Maybe someone else came out. Who could it be, odd are against a criminal. However a scared or skeptical person with a guy is way more dangerous then someone with a hidden agenda. He looks at the shelter noteing nothing amiss at this range. Forgetting his clothes he crouches down closer to the ground. Then it catches his eye. A Off color, many colors surrounds the area but to a trained solder one stands out more then most Red. He transfixes his gaze toward it. Leering, forcing him self to relax and getting closer to the ground.

Down the path he and Ohthree have created he see it grow in size. Shape now forming. Calculating distance and speed in his mind the Image is now identifed as a female human. 5’9” tall, long legs, her startling red hair, long and unrestrained. He jumps up and starts running with his hands in the air.

“Over here, Over here, I’m not alone! I’m not alone!!” He shouts closing the distance between then in amazing speed. He gets closer her Brilliant emerald eyes, Wide with shock. Her whole body tense as this naked man Screaming like crazy embraces her in a Full Hug. If not for her ability to feel his Pure Joy she may have taken a Defensive stance. Instead she stands their Stiffly as he Hugs her tears in his eyes.

“I’m not lone.” He stops looks at himself and shame and Embarrassment enclose him as his face nearly matches the Brilliant red of her hair. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,..” He repeats over and over dashing under brush running toward where he left his clothes.

/OOC Given the choice, two guys an Alien or a long legged Red head. who are you going to meet first?

Erika Christensen

Darkness...

”I must be dreaming”, Erika thinks. “Ok I am in a dark place, a tunnel?” She waits a few moments and continues her thoughts. “This dream is rather dull… What is happening? Hmm let me think. I am in hibersleep and I am having a boring dream… Can one dream in hibersleep?” Erika starts feeling around and establishes she is a very tight place. “What is this…? A coffin, I am in a coffin!” she panics and trashes about for a minute, only to realise her coffin is humming. “Hmm that’s weird, coffins doesn’t hum. This must be a hibernation chamber. But why is it so dark in here and why am I not sleeping then?” Erika started feeling around in the chamber and finally stumbled upon the release mechanism. The release was triggered, but lagging power the unit wasn’t very cooperative and poor Erika soon realised she was still trapped in her hibernation chamber.

After a lot of crying, screaming, banging and even resignation she starts to put her muscles into play, and finally millimetre by millimetre the heavy door to the hibernation chamber give way, but the work drains Erika of her energy and she has to give up on the door after the initially tiny gap between unit and door…

/OOC Better stop at this point, don’t know if the Reefer Sleep Chamber is empty or not.

Dominick Landry

I had travelled many times in hybersleep many times, but this is the first time I had awakened in the dark. It would have been an unnerving experience, if I hadn't realized what had happened.

Dom realized that something major must have happened to the ship because the backups and the double backups were not working. The alarms had not sounded for a hull breach in a vaccum, so it was safe to come out of the hiberation chamber. After that he would play it step-by-step.

Dom pressed the button to exit the hiber-pod. He heard a *click* but that was it. He would have to force it open, and he did so with slow, steady pressure. Once it was open enough to slide out, he did so and caught his breath in the dark.

He heard another click, unnaturally loud in this quiet, dark chamber. Dom then heard the muffled sound of someone kicking, banging and even screaming. He could only tell the general direction and was about to move towards it when the creaking began. Someone was slowly pushing the heavy hibernation chamber door open.

Lt. Landry could tell which chamber was trying to be pushed open and he moved closer. Apparently the entity within was not that strong because the pushing had stopped when the door was only open a little.

Realizing that anyone trying to get out of the chamber was a Federation citizen and he was duty bound to help them/it. His strong finger tips grasped the partailly open door, silently pulling and tugging with all his strength until it creaked open. Dom stepped back and watched to see who or what emerged.

Tek

Tek continued to watch the new arrivals. The ship seemed entirely too big to house just one man. Later, more began to emerge. The thermal setting on his mask showed only four individuals coming out of their cold sleep.

He turned his attention towards movement in the brush near the stucture the man and his robot had made. Someone had shadowskin. He had never been one who agreed with the competing guilds' readiness to sell their technology to the humans, but it had been done. Nothing to do about it now. It was a first-generation model. One could still see the distortion lines if the wearer moved too fast. He knew what he was doing, because he was not moving too fast at all.

For human eyes, anyhow.

As of yet only two had met, and the man seemed stark raving mad. The risks of taking your company with a construct. The woman however, seemed to be reacting strangely to his lack of covering.

Modesty...that was the word he remembered. Humans and their strange concepts.

Then he felt the presence of another. This caught him off gaurd, because he wasn't psychic. Someone else was. Talented, but unskilled. He didn't count on staying hidden from her forever if he continued to stay in the area.

Wait--make that five awakened individuals. But one of them was not coming out of the shell. He sat debating as to whether or not he would go to help. It was against K'kraali custom to assist strtangers. It was considered theft of their opportunity to prove themselves. However, their ways were not his, nor were his theirs.

Before he had the chance to decide, yet another awoke and did the job for him. His secret would wait for it's revelation.

Erika Christensen

With a sigh of relief Erika relaxed to see the heavy door slowly swing open by it self, until she sensed the present of a person in the darkness in front of her.

“Hello? Who are you? What is going on here? Why is the light out? What happened to my hibersleep unit?” Gasping for air Erika took a moment to allow for her eyes to adapt to the shadows in front of her.

She remembered the last night before going to hibersleep, some of the soldiers had tried to trick her into believing that one had to be naked in the hibernation chamber. Luckily she had consulted the ships manual and avoided the embarrassment of having to appear naked in front of whoever was there to retrieve her from the malfunctioned sleeper unit.

Furiae Keras

It was moments like these that allowed her to understand the bloody history of her species. Even today telepathic skills were few and far between. Without them, without the ability to read the intent in the mind of the man who approached her…what would her reaction have been?

As it was she’d had to buffer her shields, cringing beneath the weight of his roiling emotions. The glee, a golden cascade of feeling; the exultation of being no longer alone, a pure white shimmer flowing over her, through her; joy that verged on dementia a silver river nearly drowning her. And then his physical touch, the feel of all those emotions trebled with the contact of his skin against hers.

She’d never cloistered herself within the T&T Guild where casual contact between telepaths was virtually non-existent, but even so, most of the fleet understood the emotional impact of touch against T&T senses.

Slamming her mental barriers down around her like a shielding wall she trembles beneath his embrace. Reaching her arms around his neck she returns the gesture, understanding his need, giving what she can of herself to soothe the turmoil that roils from him in waves. Even against the onslaught of her own keyed up senses she is unable to ignore the smooth masculine ripple beneath her fingertips or the heady male scent of his body pressing close to hers.

His release is so sudden it nearly sends her toppling to the ground his murmur of apology confusing her already befuddled senses until she spies the loose bundle of clothing that he heads toward. An ironic smile wreathes her lips as she shakes her head, nudity not a cultural taboo on either of the worlds she grew up in. She sinks to her knees, overcome with the events of the day, breathing slowly, deeply to calm her nerves.

From nowhere, and everywhere, a sensual shiver against her mind, the iridescent swirl of color and warmth touches her, lightly, gently, soothing her beleaguered spirit, gentling her shuddering body in its serene embrace.

She stills, stretching her acuity subtly, reaching for the origin of the sensation in her mind. She feels its retreat, tender but decisive and whimpers audibly with its withdrawal only to have another presence impinge itself on her consciousness. From the corner of her eye she catches a blur near the door of the structure. For a moment she believes the quiet hello that barely reaches her ears is mental. She shakes her head in aggravation, berating herself for the obvious, the sound reaching her ears lightly from the distance and yet…her eyes picked up no sign of the intruder.

Her mind focuses; male, strong and independent the being’s self-confidence and aggressively determined focus label him a warrior. Her lips form a wry smile, her imagination throwing images of some of history’s bolder warrior classes flirting through her head. Confused she channels harder, wondering if this could be the source of the unfamiliar rhapsody of color and then negates that immediately. An incredibly disciplined mind, yes, but no psi talents are apparent. She continues to sit, her gaze on the invisible image that taunts her senses.

Tek

The hunter caught the psionicist looking around at bits of nothing. Sure signs that she sensed another's presence. He wondered if she saw the human or himself. The anthropology study that was beginning to develope was very stimulating and a welcomed distraction on his vacation.

To him, the chance of being caught and fired upon, even by an undodgeable mental attack was nothing more or less than exhilirating.

MedTech SSgt Alan Crowe - UTMC

There was definitely movement in here somewhere...

He'd heard bangings, popping and scuffing noises several times while he debated his next move. Glancing down at the rifle he flicked the safety switch over to the BURST position, feeling the slight vibration of the ignition system as it activated.

Taking a few steps to the door of the Hibernation chamber he swept the part of it he could see with the torch beam.

"Fleet Marines! Who's there?"

Messalina Bishop

Fighting back the panic and disorientation of being in a confined space as she regained consciousness, Messalina Bishop waited for the comforting whirr that would signal the opening of her chamber. Come on... Come on! She urged the overslow computer that guided its functions. Being enclosed and waiting for release were the two things she'd struggled most with during her training. Messalina could never decide which was worse. Until now.

She could feel the sweat beading on her forehead and upper lip now, despite the coolness of the oxygen mixture that was seeping in. "Come on, dammit! Open. Open. OPEN!!"

Something must have gone wrong. Something did go wrong! Messa began to squirm frantically, struggling to get her arms up, her hands against the doors. Push. Push! "Open. Open. Open. Please!"

She would not die inside this damnable thing. She would not!!

Call for help. Would anyone hear? You'll waste oxygen. How long can I stay here before the supply is exhausted? Open. Open, dammit. Open!

No room. No air. No... Her steadily growing claustrophobia-induced terror made it seem as though the walls were closing in. As if the chamber were shrinking. Choking back a scream, she continued to shove against the doors, her panic growing with each passing second. Please? My fault. I should have gone to church. I should have... What was that noise? What? Messalina held her breath, listening. Nothing. Just your imagination. She pushed again. Harder this time. There it was again! "Please. Please. Let it open. Let it... "

She should have never joined UTSP. If she hadn't, she'd be giving a lecture somewhere right now. Maybe sitting by a fire with a brandy, warming her toes. At the cineplex. Doing something live. Something... normal. She'd be safe. She didn't want it to end this way. She wouldn't allow it.

Bracing her back against the rear of the chamber, Bishop dug her feet in and concentrated every shred of energy she could muster to push against the uncooperative doors. "Ohhhhhh... pennnn... upppppp!!" she screamed aloud.

Messalina's answer came in the form of a grinding metallic kerchunk which parted the doors suddenly and sent her tumbling onto the floor. Shaken, she lay there for a moment, gulping in the fresh air. But she still couldn't see! It was so... dark! So... quiet!! Where was everyone? What had happened??

"Hello?" she called out, raising herself to a kneeling position in the jet black abyss of her surroundings. "Is anybody there? Hello??"

MedTech SSgt Alan Crowe UTMC

<KER-BANNNG!>

As Alan moved towards the quieter noise at the back of the HiberChamber there was a sudden sensation of movement and and a loud noise from the far lateral side of the large vault.

Reflexively he spun and tightened his finger on the trigger, the action taking place even as he willed it NOT to. The rifle barely moved in his hands, but the muzzle flash was a little more impressive and the projectiles whined and sparked as they hit an innocent freezer unit that was not even near the origin of the noise.

Alan flinched. What are you doing, you idiot? The only person it COULD be is another crewmember waking up! his mind chided him. Pushing the safety of the rifle determinedly over to SAFE he slowly made his way over to where the bang had come from.

Messalina Bishop

Her eyes adjusted slowly as her breathing and heartrate eased back into near-normal rhythms. She could see... she could... A sound! Messalina squinted in the direction from which it had come. A light!!

"Hello?" she called out again. "Over here. I'm over here."

"Keep talking."

Her hands flew up over her eyes as the blinding glare of a torch shone directly in them, before being lowered. "Thank heavens," she gasped, starting to laugh at her foolishness. "I thought... Did we crash? Is anyone else... Messalina," she added as an afterthought, bringing herself to her feet. "Messalina Bishop, UTSP."

Lt. Dominick Landry

"I am Lt. Dominick Landry, but you can call me Dom." I said in response to her first question. It was then that all hell broke loose. I saw a light sweep from the far end of the compartment and heard, "Fleet Marines! Who's there?". I was about to responed to his challenge when a burst of automatic fire roared in the Hibernation Chamber. My leap carried me into the HiberPod I just helped to open. I jumped onto a human female form and grabbed her close, if any projectiles came this way, they would not harm the woman.

As soon as the firing had begun it ended, from the sounds Dom heard, some piece of machinery had absorbed the brunt of the assault. The light then moved to the far side of the large compartment. Dom told the woman he was pressed against, "Looks like someone overreacted, it should be safe now, come with me." His hand found hers and held it tight as he stepped down and helped her out of the Pod.

Dominick heard a loud <KER-BANNNG!> from the other side of the compartment. He moved towards the sound and the moving light, towing the woman along with him. He would have to ask her name, that was only polite. He heard voices as they moved closer to that side of the room.

Dom decided it was not prudent to sneak up on an armed Fleet Marine and called out, "Lt. Dominick Landry, I am unarmed and coming out. Hold your fire."

MedTech SSgt Alan Crowe UTMC

Just as Alan was beginning to deal with the mortification of having fired on an unarmed civilian on his OWN side, a quiet voice from a safe distance announced the arrival of another player in this little drama.

By now Alans nerves resembled frayed yarn - so he jumped again, even though the voice was reasonable and calm.

"Yessir. Come on out into the light, please. "

Alan moved so that he had his back to a wall, and was facing into the chamber where the two others would meet. Shining his torch down on a patch of floor.

"Staff Sergeant Crow, Miss Bishop - UTMC. Sorry if I startled you earlier. Just in case you new arrivals hadn't twigged, we appear to be in something of a situation here. " towards the end he raised his voice so that the unknown lieutenant could hear.

"The Skipper left a message outside, seems a bit bleak - but there's a small rendezvous point downrange a ways. "

Sr. WO Rod Jenkins:

In his twenty plus years and after surviving planet fall and exploration of fifteen planets, many with hostile native populations or flaura and fauna Jenkins had learned patience and how to sit immobile and quiet.

Finished with the ration bar that's just what he now did. He sat in his chair back to the molyblend hull plate wall as still as a statue facing the main entry door with his weapon on his leg pointing at it and waited.

Someone had constructed this place now he was just awaiting their arrival, but was prepared for any hostile presence at the same time. Can't ever tell so be ready for the worse was an axiom he'd lived and survived by following.

Capt Warrick

Sr. WO Rod Jenkins: Finished with the ration bar that's just what he now did. He sat in his chair back to the molyblend hull plate wall as still as a statue facing the main entry door with his weapon on his leg pointing at it and waited.

Capt Warrick Runs toward the Dwelling he and ohthree created.

Can't ever tell so be ready for the worse was an axiom he'd lived and survived by following.

The door Flys open and the image of a Very Tan Muscular man Naked appears in view. Franticly looking around as if wanting to find something. He dashes back outside closing the door. Obviously he didn’t find it.