∝Mission Status
FLEET STATUS
► Primary Mission: Pursuit of insurgent organization known as The First. Recovery of Intergalactic Alliance property. Objective has been achieved!
► Secondary Mission Status Report: An increase in Gate-based phenomena resulted in the arrival of several new otherworlders, which DIVA, the holographic program through which all announcements are made, reported might be a sign of impending action from The First, or so the Admiral felt. All new arrivals were to report to their respective commanding officers aboard the four fleet ships while the fleet continued toward the Tilriz, a deep space depot. It was the first time in ten years that such a phenomenon had occurred. The last time it saw such activity was in the year 133 N.E. when the the space cruiser, the Crucible, was recovered after a twelve and a half year absence.
It took a week, but finally the fleet arrived at the Tilriz for resupplying and systems checks. Off-duty crew members were allowed to disembark and explore the depot, but were warned to leave the Dneir ascetic monks alone in their central monastery.
The scheduled departure of the fleet away from the Tilriz, however, was prevented when DIVA announced that a dangerous anomaly was headed for the fleet and everyone was to take shelter on the Tilriz.
When the anomaly hit, it resulted in the merging of the Uesugi and Demeter, and the Hawking and Stella. Unfortunately, many lives were lost, but otherworlders who were left onboard were brought home as a quirk of the strange anomaly. DIVA had also been damaged, but was still functional enough to continue announcements and give orders in Admiral Ganymede's stead. The newly formed ships departed from the Tilriz, leaving its crew to map out the newly merged areas, and to become acquainted with the Uesugi's new commander, Leon Menaeus, though the Hawking's new commander had yet to show himself.
The relative peace aboard the new ships was short-lived, however, when an enemy ship came within range and began showing hostility to the Alliance fleet. An offensive was launched, led by the Hawking Commander, Jaden Farix, making a grand entrance, and several otherworlders dived into action to defend the ships.
Unfortunately, the enemy ship continued advancing until the ship rammed the Hawking, punching a hole in the side of the ship. Enemy forces flooded in and used the transportation stations to infiltrate the Uesugi as well, leaving both ships under attack...
But just as quickly as the battle had started, did it end, thanks to the sudden deaths of all the enemy soldiers. DIVA warned that the bodies of the soldiers were still harmful to the living Alliance crew, and droids were sent out to collect and remove the bodies from the ship. However...the enemy soldiers left behind a few presents in the forms of bombs. Through teamwork and clever deductions, the otherworlders led Commander Menaeus and his bomb disposal droids to the right bombs--several dummy ones had been placed around the Uesugi--and soon everything was put back in place.
Both ships, though, had taken a significant amount of damage in the battle, but the biostation Atropos was nearby, so the fleet headed there to work on repairs and to make sure all systems were still operational while the Gauntlet remained in the area to continue its search for signals. The biostation was filled with giant, oversized flora that dwarfed the living quarters and all other buildings used by the scientists and localized crew, who proved to be a bit gossipy about The First and Admiral Ganymede--though nothing they spoke about was true. Such was the way of rumors.
Soon enough, though, the engineers and repairers finished work on the ships, allowing the crews to reboard the shis and set off from the Atropos biostation. And just in time, too! The Gauntlet reportedly received a message from The First and was fast at work verifying its authenticity, and from there, the Admiral was to give the say-so to follow it up. But while the crews waited for the Admiral's decision, they quickly realised that they hadn't left the biostation alone, and found the ships infested with little critters that made a mess everywhere. Scientists in the Uesugi's biosphere set up a special quarantined area just for the critters to live until such time that the fleet could bring them back home to the Atropos biostation.
The message the IACC-1071 Gauntlet intercepted from The First had been verified and deemed authentic, so the fleet launched into the nearest wormhole to make up for lost time--except the fleet was struck by an anomaly from the active Gate and now everyone was experiencing hallucinations that made them ridiculously happy. At the same time, however, the temperature had begun to rise...
And it turned out, the increase in temperature was due to the ships being caught in the mouth of a space whale! Crew from the Gauntlet had been in the process of freeing the ships, but requested help, not only in freeing the ships, but in getting the whale to open its mouth without hurting it.
After successfully escaping the space whale's mouth, something horrible happened to DIVA and The First sprung their trap on the Alliance crew. Currently, The First are putting the crew through different trials so they can gauge the reactions of the otherworlders as this is their first time getting to see them. None of the trials will kill them as The First won't allow them to die.
Though the trials had ceased, the crew were now faced with a choice of who to trust. A Commander Menaeus who was nice and healthy and gives them materials to escape--or a wounded Menaeus who tried to tell them to stay right where they were. What to do? What would the crew do now?
After some of the crew listened to one Menaeus, and some the other, the entire Alliance crew collapsed once more and awoke back on the ships as though barely any time had passed--and indeed, no time had passed. The only things that had changed were the transfer of the crew-filled mecha into the docking bay. And finally DIVA--the real DIVA--returned after being under attack for the past months, but the last she knew, the fleet was at the Tilriz, not in that particular sector of space. As for The First...they got away with some vital data about the otherworlders and what they plan to do with it will remain to be seen...
Once DIVA had cleared away the final traces of the MISAO virus, she announced that a taunting message from The First had been left, confirming that they will be back. In the meantime, a message from another anti-Alliance fleet known as the Cedirra had posed a challenge to the Alliance and gave them a riddle to solve to find the rendezvous point--or else.
Fortunately, the fleet did solve the riddle and soon they arrived at the "Pillars of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula. Their victory is short-lived, however, as the Cedirra are nowhere in sight, some crew members are experiencing glitches with their Spheres, and people have begun to go missing...
Unfortunately, the shadows that plagued the two ships were part of a psychological trap parodying a facet of Norse mythology set up by the Cedirra to trick the crew into delivering the four lost crew members--including the two ship commanders--right into their hands. Captain Maris rubbed this fact into their faces before telling them that something worse was to befall the fleet, and would think about sending help if it seemed like the crew were all going to kill each other.
And she eventually did send help, much to her annoyance. She revealed one final game that split up the otherworlders by ship, sending the Uesugi crew through a labyrinth where they fought phantom Cedirra soldiers, and the Hawking crew through a forest maze where they met all manner of traps. Both crews had to make it to the center, though the familiar settings of their obstacles didn't go without notice. When they arrived at the door leading to Captain Maris, they were asked whether they wished to remember or forget their encounter with the Cedirra.
Upon choosing, the crew were allowed into the inner sanctum of the Cedirran ship-- but it was empty, with the exception of the four kidnapped Alliance crew members. Captain Maris had fled, but thanked them for an entertaining time, though depending on what each otherworlder chose, they were given something different to think about... That is, after they had fled back to their respective ships. A self-destruct sequence was initiated, but DIVA utilized the Cedirran ship's teleportation program to bring everyone back to the ships, and then initiated a warp-drive sequence to escape the blast from the impending explosion...
Only...there wasn't one. Admiral Ganymede himself announced the truth of the Cedirran ship's fate a week after they fled the area around the Eagle Nebula. Unfortunately, spending so much time with the Cedirra caused the Alliance to lose many of its leads into the whereabouts of The First, so the Admiral set the course to rendezvous with a planetary outpost, the Gerostana, on the planet known as Pallas in order to recover and retrace old leads--and gain some new ones as well.
About another week later, Commander Menaeus--finally recovered from his ordeal with the Cedirra-- announced that an all-systems flush was to take place on both ships, so all crew were to be housed in quarters in the Gerostana while the process was taking place. But as soon as he was done speaking, images similar to the ones the otherworlders saw after choosing to remember their ordeal with the Cedirra popped up in their minds, including the vision of a stone passageway that would plague them while they slept.
Fortunately, the all-systems flush of the ships were successful, if longer than planned. Unfortunately, however, the flush resulted in a water line explosion, on the Uesugi, flooding a several sectors, so Commander Farix asked that the crews stayed put in the Gerostana while repairs and such continued. The weather on Pallas, however, started to become a bit erratic, with rain showers coming on and off like with the flick of a switch, and the water in the nearby lake had risen up to the front doors of the Gerostana, but strangely enough, the water didn't seem to bother some of the people.
Turned out the erratic weather and never-ceasing rains were a result of the planet's terraforming technology, and just about all the crew and staff in the Gerostana moved to the upper levels. However...the otherworlders, who had gone through a recent transformation that made them able to breath and thrive in the rising waters, were beckoned to an ancient underwater temple by a song. Why they were called there, well...only time will reveal all.
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