5 (DSV Nautica) Into the Ruins Part 1
Aki stared at the packet onscreen. Another galaxy to explore...another civilization. Why should she settle for this? Her thoughts drifted to AU-945, the real mystery. The real danger. The real knowledge. Zhi sensed her frustrations and slid up behind her, holding the slender female in his arms, kissing her ears. Her wings folded out a little, limp. Worked every time."Cease such thoughts...you will go to the Mystery soon enough, but you are yet young in their eyes.""I am not a child Zhi...""I know. You know. They do not. This is exactly what the conclave doesn't like in their captains. Anger and frustration. You know all this Aki, but you let your emotions take hold of you..."The observation room of the Erebus was comfortable. It had soft and well placed pillows all strewn about. A small station for water and other beverages. A place to relax. The walls became transparent and displayed the stars beyond the hull, streaking past them at the FTL speeds.They were to investigate another one of the mentioned galaxies in Celeste's packets, supposedly of an atomic aged society. She couldn't help but admit that despite her distaste of being sent on such a routine investigation, she wanted to see what they had accomplished. These advanced societies were quite rare. Only a handful had been discovered. Some had even discovered them. Contact was not the usual protocol. That didn't stop a few captains from being careless and letting their hulls be revealed. Conclave usually slapped them pretty hard for that. It was embarrassing for an Ayr'een to be seen.
Aki was determined not to make such a mistake. AU-945 was the home of the dragons. Captains who could not stay hidden in that place were dead. Plain and simple. Their crews too. As far as they knew, dragons took no prisoners. Even captains who stayed invisible got caught. Such was the dangers of such a mysterious galaxy.If a captain was ever seen ever, they would surely never see AU-945. It would be worse for Aki. Youngest captain, and if she made such a mistake it would set a terrible example for the future."Captain. We are 30 minutes out." The gruff voice of De'an racked her brain."Understood."She lapsed into Zhi's arms and looked up at him, smiling coyly. "We are alone up here..."Zhi got a most devious grin on his face, just as the doors slid open and Ka'ya bounded in, a serene smile on her face. She threw herself into a lounge pillow and closes her eyes. Zhi let out a grunt of dissatisfaction. Aki shared his feelings for the moment, but Ka'ya had done nothing wrong. She patted Zhi on the shoulder, giving him a small smile. She headed toward the bridge, Flare silently walking up behind her.
"With due respect captain, you know relationships with your crewmen aren't smiled upon.""They aren't banned, I met Zhi long before I was a captain. I did not have him
assigned to the Erebus, and the Conclave agreed with me." She simply refuted Flares argument."Flare let out a breath through her nostrils. Aki smiled. Flare was one of her good friends, an unlikely match. Flare had the fighting affinity, whereas Aki had the leadership quality. As good of friends they were though, Flare had yet to drop the formalities in her presence when on duty. That was a good sign. She was a protector to the heart. Aki smiled."Don't worry, protector."Aki reached the bridge, sighing and taking her seat in the captains chair. She felt the aura of the Erebus even stronger, integrating with her mind. It whispered to her. It was time."Cloak.""Engaged.""FTL.""Exit."There was a screech as the ship exited the tunnel of FTL, a planet in sight. "Scan.""Done....and negative for life forms." Aki frowned. This wasn't right. There was supposed to be a civilization here. One that was beginning to explore the heavens. They were in their atomic age.
"Captain. Radiation."Aki saw it. The sensors spiked. The whole planet was a cesspool of radiation."Flare...escort the team down...""Yes captain.""Captain...that's not proper-" De'ans irritation was ill concealed."Silence. We came for information. We will get it."Silence. De'an was a handful.Flare nodded and exited the bridge. Flare proceeded to the research labs, collected the science team with all haste and efficiency. By the time she had reached the launch bay, her team of protectors was waiting there. Without hesitation she ran to the shield across the entrance, jumped through it, cloaked herself, and using her board she coasted out into the vacuum of space. Her team and the science team followed closely, cloaking and maneuvering out close to one of the satellites belonging to the inhabitants. Or former inhabitants.Aki stared at the scanners. Had they annihilated themselves? That's what it looked like...save for one little discrepancy. The Planet didn't seem to be pockmarked with any sign of explosions. Nuclear holocaust would have clearly blackened the landscape. The planet seemed untouched my any major explosions on a nuclear scale.
What had happened here?"Ka'ya. Reintegrate."Ka'ya reclined in her focus bed across the ship as acolytes made the preparations."Amplify. Integrating. Acquiring. Done." The acolytes murmured. Ka'ya placed her palm on a small triangular stone with smooth, rounded sides. Two things happened. Ka'yas brainwaves lapsed into a deep comatose state, and the crew of the Erebus found themselves reconnected to their kind back home millions of light years away. Aki stood before the exploratory subdivision of conclave. The elder faces peered at her, their holographic forms and
thoughts merely a controlled hallucination to her."Captain Nee'Ak'ee'oh. Please report on your findings.""Minimal and intriguing. No life forms detected."A stir amongst the members."And radiation levels are quite high. Off hand I would say that the civilization destroyed itself with nuclear weapons, but there are no traces of blast craters. Only the radiation to suggest it. It is quite odd.""Steps you have taken?"She had the councils interest. Albeit mild interest.
"A science team is examining the satellites orbiting the planet. They will then proceed with caution to anything that appears to be a central databank, taking notes as they go.""Good. We look forward to your report.""DISCONNECT IMMINENT"The thought rang through the heads of everyone on board. They braced.Ka'yas hand was removed, and the acolytes began the waking process. The familiar feeling of their fellow Ayr'een faded into the cold black depths of space. It felt like a gaping void in everyone's chest. To be expected.The team had already concluded the satellites were the source of the radiation. As they began to decend through the atmosphere, their shields began to issue alerts from massive doses of radiation. They were having trouble blocking it all. Flare acted quickly, turning the team around, and heading back to the ship in a matter of minutes."Erebus, we need a medical team on standby!"Aki intercepted and asked Flare what happened directly."What happened?""Radiation. Not sure our shields got all of it. We need to take every precaution."
"Understood."Aki sounded the alert in the medical section of the ship, a team already on the way down with specialized shielding devices, scanning equipment, and some medicine in the event contamination had occurred.Aki stared absentmindedly out the front view port of the Erebus. This wasn't a usual case at all.