A different world.
Shattered timelineThe year is 3026 and humanity is stretched amongst the stars inhabitin...
Shattered timelineThe year is 3026 and humanity is stretched amongst the stars inhabiting thousands of worlds, populated by hundreds of billions of people, technology is expanding at an astonishing rate and yet the human race still fights amongtst itself. Two massive governments fight for control over the galaxy, the unified terrain alliance: a democracy with strong beliefs inpersonal freedom and liberty and the fist of Orion empire: an authoritarian state with almost complete control over its people. The two forces clash violently over their differing views leaving tens of billions dead, yet neither side is able to push into the others territory. A stalemate is reached and the two forces fortify their borders, licking their wounds and planning solutionis found by the alliance: the aurora bomb a weapon so devastating that it would destroy the fist of Orion's chain of command in one swift blow. They loaded the bomb onto a massive military freighter: the UTA godsend, piloted by a single man Jonathan Cole but immediately after its departure the godsend disappeared and was never found. This is his story
"control center 6 this is the UTA godsend requesting permission to undock" I shifted trying to get comfortable in thesmall pilots chair while awaiting for approval my eyes scanned over the multiple displays checking various systemsfor possible problems but they found none. "Request granted godsend you are green lit for separation good luck"."thanks control godsend out" the ship drifted away from the colossal docking umbilical's that had been attached together, my fingers danced furiously at the display keys causing the attitude thrusters all along the ship to maneuver herinto a position where I could activate the two large ion engines at her rear. I sighed and rubbed my eyes that were already hurting form staring into the brightly lit displays: 'at least It won't be a long trip thank god and the pay isabove and beyond what standard contracts give out' I thought to myself as flipped through the hull cameras. The ship was a large cargo transport, an elongated oval about 3Km wide and two km in circumference. It was a clever disguise; the ship was carrying military hardware, ammunition, weapons, and vehicles enough to supply an entire division for an entire campaign and since it was a military transport customs didn't scan the cargo so they wouldn't pick up what was hidden in the center of the ship. I sighed again "just two jumps and you'll be sipping margaritas on a beach somewhere" I said to myself remembering how I had gotten this contract. I had just finished a cargo run for a mega corporation and was spending what little credits I had received on cheap rotgut whiskey when a man in a sharp black suite with medals pinned to the chest approached me. It was an alliance officer a pale, short twitchy little spook with short cropped blonde hair and green eyes that seemed to watch every little gesture. He pulled up a chair and sat in front of me and flicked his eyes over the rest of the club for a few seconds then he turned his attention to me " Jonathan Cole?" he asked in a low monotone voice " depends who's asking " I said calmly taking a swig of my drink. " Colonel Isaac reed UTA weapons research division" he replied with the same level of calm. I raised my eyebrows slightly "shouldn't you be in some remote lab with the other egg heads making some nasty weapons for those Orion bastards" I said sarcastically taking another swig of my drink "that doesn't concern you, what does though is what I'm about to offer you" he said with a slight tone of irritation in his voice. I nodded my head slowly and motioned for him to continue. " my team has just completed a very important research project, one that the UTA has been throwing money and man power at for a very long time and we need an experienced pilot to transport this cargo to a secure location" he explained in the same monotone voice as before. Again I nodded "so the UTA got a new toy and you need someone to discreetly deliver it to some unspecified location." Before I agree to anything I need to see the ship l this cargo be transported in" I replied casually. He bristled in slight irritation at my comment but suppressed it "the ship that is docked right outside this station docking cradle 57A" he jerked his head toward a view port near the table I looked out and saw it, a large gun metal grey military cargo ship connected the docking gantry. "It's filled with military hardware for the 8th special tasks division stationed on epsilon colony two jumps away or so that's whats written on the manifest" he turned his head back to me "what about a crew a ship that size needs almost a thousand people to keep it running" I asked still running my eyes up and down her hull "this particular ship is special it only requires a pilot the ships artificial intelligence program controls everything else" I nodded my head again It was uncommon for a ship that large to be piloted by one person namely because the costs were staggering and the risks imense but it was not completely unheard of. I switched my gaze back to the man in front of me "okay and finally what about terms of payment I charge the standard fee usually but since this isn't any ordinary cargo I think the alliance can be a bit more generous " I said eyeing the alcohol in my glass. The corners of his mouth twitched into what may have been a smile but it was gone just as quick as it had come "your right Mr. Cole this isn't any ordinary cargo run well pay you 50 million credits 25 now and 25 upon time of delivery" the hairs on the back of my neck stood up 50 million was a fortune, I could retire and spend the rest of my life in the lap of luxury. But my visions of wealth and power were plagued with doubts, why would the alliance pay me that much to make two jumps? Was there something the man wasn't telling me? I decided the reward outweighed the risk I downed the rest of my drink "when do I leave" and from there it was a blur I was given a few hours to pack my things, board the ship and get myself familiar with the ships layout then I made my way to the bridge a small room with the only light coming off the display screens. My muscular frame didn't do well in the cramped space where I would be spending half my time piloting the massive spacecraft. "I'm sorry for the discomfort you are experiencing this ship was designed to be completely autonomous, the bridge was put together during refitting and there was not time to install it elsewhere. I looked on the display panel; a small image of a tall slender woman with pale white skin and cole black hair dressed in pure white scholars' robes was staring sympathetically at me. " oh... you must be the ships A.I. " the small figure smiled at me " correct I am Samantha the ships artificial intelligence I will manage all non essential ship systems everything else is under your control of course" the AI exclaimed in a singsong voice. I raised my eyebrows confused" your name is Sam? What is that an acronym for" I asked absent mindedly while I browsed the ships schematics. The figures face turned quizzical "hmmm it doesn't stand for anything I just liked the name when I saw it and stuck with it ever since" she replied cheerfully that froze me midway through scrolling the ships reactor data. Artificial minds had been known to develop personalities but they all still thought like a machine cold, calculating and logical using their knowledge to simulate human emotion so that the operator felt more comfortable around them, but this one seemed genuinely happy that I was having a conversation with it. "Oh okay well my name is Jonathan Cole but you can call me john if you like" I said continuing to browse various aspects of the ship I would be spending the next two months on. " Johnathan Cole age 27 born march 22 3782 height 6,3 weight 150lbs military record... classified nice to meet you Mr.Cole". I smiled politely then punched in the jump coordinates to the first waypoint the coordinates weren't to epsilon colony instead they were to n uninhabited part of a few astronomical units outside of alliance space. We were already close to the border so it would only take two jumps like the colonel had explained "I look forward to working with you as well Sam". I said as I finished keying in the last number and pressing the execute key then I waited for the odd sensation as the faster than light drive engaged. The Ship was engulfed by a bright white flash, shot dozens of AU's across space then dropped back out into the void of space in the span of 12 seconds. I shivered as a chill went up my spine FTL travel has different effects on some people: some vomit as soon as they drop out, others pass out mine was not near as unpleasant since I had spent years on ships that used the drives exclusively. I zoomed in on the system map: we were in a vast expanse of empty space populated only with an occasional star no fear of an attack since nobody cared to scan this far into deep space. Then I ran a quick system diagnostic to see if there were any potential problems forming , al the systems were green except my communications relay which was going insane usually it would be picking up regular FTL com satellite traffic but all that was coming through was white noise "Sarah run a diagnostic on the comm. relays I'm getting some really strange feedback maybe the techs installed something wrong" I tapped the controls and brought up a hull camera nearest to a small pod on the hull that housed the sensitive equipment nothing seemed to be visually wrong with it there were no black charred spots where a micro meteorite could have pierced it and no hanging or loose components that could have been shaken out from the FTL jump. "John the comm. Relays have been installed correctly and there are no signs of hull damage the only other thing that could make the equipment act this way would be a large surge of electromagnetic radiation". My brow furrowed then a small thought dawned on me "do we have any information on solar activity for this region"? She shook her head explaining pontedly"No the UTA specifically chose this location as a waypoint because there was little to no information that could be stolen by an enemy infiltrator" she replied matter-of-factly "why do you ask"? I pointed a dazzling blue blotch growing steadily on my screen " because I think were in the path of a solar storm" I said staring at the blotch which now occupied about a fourth of the screen". The AI spoke as if scolding a child "your jumping to conclusions that could be any number of different things" Ignoring her comment I asked "how long until the FTL drive is ready for another jump"? "At least a couple of hours why?" she replied curiously. "Because we don't have a couple of hours that storm is going to hit us... soon get it up and running now" I reached for the harness in my seat and secured it around my torsot then began to give my commands " Sarah I need you adjust our attitude so that the top hull of the ship is facing toward the storm then focus energy and kinetic shields along the entire surface". She complied adding " I still think your over reacting but your the captain" I then shifted my attention to calculating the speed of the the massive storm of energy that was approaching us using what little sensors I had that werent going insane from the EM radiation that was penetrating the hull. " Shit... that cant be right" I silently cursed then re-checked my numbers, they were accurate. The storm was going to reach us in roughly an hour the FTL drive was still gathering power from the two fusion reactors that powered the entire ship " Sarah we dont have a lot of time how much energy does the drive need before we can make a jump?" " right now the FTL drive is 37% charged but It still requires a minimum of 30 million pettawatts before it can safely make a jump the 2 fusion power plants onboard this ship can safely produce about 5 million megawatts an hour without damaging the magnetic field generators that keep the super heated plasma inside the reactor however if the safety protocals were overridden then the reactors could produce a total of 15 million megawatts for a short time before going nuclear" I weighed my options: I could override the safeties on the powerplants and get the power needed to make the jump faster but it would most likely cost both reactors and then after the jump I wouldnt even have impulse drive or I could try to wait out the storm and most likely get fried by radiation, I decided to take the risk. " Okay here' what well do blow the hull plates covering the reactors off so we can jettison them quickly when the time comes then as soon as their clear we make our jump". The AI gave the equivelant of a frown " John the probablility of this plans success is less than 5%" I rubbed my temples " yes yes I know but we wont last 4 hours in that" I pointed to the dazzling blue cloud of superheated gasses dotted with gigantic arcs of lightning " Its our best chance of saving ourselves, the ship and the cargo were carrying" the image of her face nodded on the display " okay Ill ready the reactors" the her face dissapeared from the display as she went about her task.
First chapter more are on the way I had a lot of fun creating the idea for this story and I hope you enjoy it too