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Lost in Exploration [RP]

Started by Narric, February 20, 2017, 05:13:37 PM

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Narric

#30
Punching in final activation codes,Father Michael was almost in a trance as he worked the console before him in rapid execution. The flight control tower had trouble keeping in up, but soon took to jumping five steps in the process to match Michael's speed. With a series of clunks, the ship was detached from various fueling robs and scaffolding, now rest on the angle launch rails. At the edge of the starboard side of the bridge window, the recessed sections of the hanger were being closed off by blast shields.

"FTL Mission you are clear for launch." Was the signal that preparations were over. "Be advised, you will be escorted until you have reached the Mesosphere, from that point on your on your own. May fortune be on your side."

"God speed to you as well crewman." Father Michael responded. A steady build up of vibrations, evolving into a rumble, and then a thunderous uproar signified the engines booming into life. Up ahead in the launch tunnel blast doors and rails were locking into place. The thunder became sharp, and plumes of exhaust began to billow over the vessel, and the Hammond lurched into motion. The launcher worked similarly to a rail gun, the trolley being propelled faster and faster by magnets along the rail, aided by the powerful engines. The crew could feel the G-forces pressing them into their seats.

The tunnel lasted three minutes, filling the bridge with sunlight and shadow, and a horizon burning black into the dawn sky. The sky was filled with anti-aircraft explosions, and dog fighting jets. A group of GRW aircraft arched wide and came about on an interception course for the Hammond, but were quickly dispatched by the joining escort jets of the BU.

Commander Jonathan pulled himself through the G-forces, and activated the Mass Driver turrets, synchronizing with the escort ID signatures to ensure no friendly fire. A raid of GRW fighters arced towards the vessel from the port side, turrets slamming each jet with two or three shots along automatically calculated trajectories. As the Flight controller said, the escort began to disengage their positions as they transitioned through the Mesosphere. The sky had given way to a field of stars crisper and brighter than they could be seen on the surface, the moon rising in the east.

And with a bright flash of crimson, it was shattered. Within minutes debris hurtled across the Hammond's flight path, causing Father Michael to make a drastic adjustment to their angle of climb. It was in this moment that Jonathan saw a vast structure rising over the eastern horizon. Subtlety was not a common trait among the GRW, and the structure emphasised this tenfold. Adorning what could only have been the weapon that just obliterated the moon was a red and black skull disfigured into a vicious smile.

The g-forces were subsiding as everyone within the vessel was now moving at relatively the same speed, allowing the commander to stand and turn to the rest of the crew.

"We're going to have to activate the FTL drive sooner than planned. there is no way we'll get to the outer Heliosheath with that thing designed to chase us down or blow us out of the sky. Miss Drakoon, we need you in Astronav to set our target, Mr Miller, get to Engineering and make sure nothing overloads and blows us all up. Everyone else may stand down but be ready for any situation to arise." Commander Jonathan ordered clearly to the crew.

Elicia pryed herself from her seat, not waiting for further confirmation of her role, walking straight to Astronav.

Cammerz

"Not to contradict you there but if something does occur then it might be best if you were all strapped in for the forseeable, whatever that thing is I'm all set to react if it so much as looks at us funny", Father Michael did not take his eyes off the enormous weapon in front of them, nor did he remove his hands from the controls as the launch-induced adrenaline pumped through him.

He whispered a quiet prayer whilst glancing to and fro, looking for some form of sizable cover behind which they could hide or rapidly change course in order to confuse their potential attackers.

Scout Sergeant Mkoll

"Duly noted, but if we're getting out of here we're going to need the FTL. We don't know what that thing is capable of or if it brought friends." Jonathan replied.

"Ok, let's move people!" he yelled "I don't know what they think they're going to achieve but if they think they're stopping us they're very much mistaken!" before turning back to his seat and scanning the screen for any other vessels.
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May the brave be remembered forever. Farewell our friends.

Quote from: Mabbz on June 03, 2011, 10:43:53 AM
Mkoll wins.

Quote from: LordDemon
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to catch you.

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Wargamer

"Not that I'm objecting to fleeing hostile fighters by any means," the doctor chimed in, "but I feel obliged to question if it is at all safe to use the hyper drive this close to a planet. Are we absolutely sure we know what we're doing?"
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Humanatee

Murray had largely been ignoring the conversation after the moon had been struck. His attention has been focused on calibrating the drive from his station to the side of the crew. He pulled himself from the task to respond to the doctors comment.

"Although this technology is largely theoretical, at this distance the only thing we could harm is the remains of the moon. I suppose at this rate we have a better survival chance against the jump than the debris and whatever the hell made them." He clicked in a few more commands as he was talking, then stared at the screen for a moment.

He wasn't to proud to admit that he couldn't be sure he'd keyed everything in properly. Inwardly he was too distressed by the madness of what his own people had just done to themselves.

"Either way, I'm ready to go on my end. I suggest if we are to make this leap, we do it quickly."

Mabbz

Jason sat in mute, slack-jawed shock at what he had just seen. The words "they blew up the moon" just kept echoing through his head. Eventually another thought did manage to catch his attention.

"How the hell didn't we see this coming?"

A moon destroying WMD should not have gone unnoticed. There was no way their intelligence network could have missed this. Unless someone was covering it up...

Pulling out his datapad, Jason began furously scanning through every last bit of data he could fingers, trying to identify the traitors. After a few minutes he stopped, recognising the futility of the task. Mentally recategorising everyone on earth as a probable traitor, he began a far more urgent and doable task; trying to identify any traitors on board the Hammond. He began listening carefully to their conversations, searching for any clues to their allegiance.

Scout Sergeant Mkoll

"Well doc, this crew's the best there is. If we don't know what we're doing then anybody else is truly lost. I'll happily listen to any other ideas, but I'm struggling to think of any. Our weapons won't even tickle a monstrosity like that." Jonathan replied.
Mkoll's Awesome Card Counter: +8

May the brave be remembered forever. Farewell our friends.

Quote from: Mabbz on June 03, 2011, 10:43:53 AM
Mkoll wins.

Quote from: LordDemon
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to catch you.

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Narric

The WMD of the GRW vessel had blasted at least a quarter of the Moon's mass, filling the empty divide between it and earth with debris. Father micheal found what he was looking for, and moved the Hammond to fly alongside a massive chunk of moon crust the size of ireland, keeping the chunk between the ship and the GRW.

On Murray's monitor, a notification popped up, declaring final setup of the FTL drive required removal of Launch safeguards.
"I need to get to engineering, otherwise the FTL drive is useless to us." He spoke, getting up from his seat once the ship had moved to the moon chunk. "Just some launch safeguards to be disengaged and we'll be ready to bolt it from here."

A speaker crackled on the bridge.
"That debris you have us using as a shield is flying in the wrong direction, Micheal" Elicia's voice buzzed through. "I'm sending a series of coordinates of debris that can be our shield, but will get us flying in the right direction."

Jason felt a pang of paranoia setting in, but managed to not give in. Earth was no longer his priority to keep secure, the vessel and its crew were.

Cammerz

"I'll be honest with you Elicia I was mainly trying to keep us out of sight, when we're ready to make our jump I'll be wanting a little less debris in general, if we hit anything at all at that speed then the next thing we'll see is Saint Peter saying 'ah bad luck lads'."

Father Michael began to mentally plot the course Elicia had sent him, trying to work out the best way to achieve the course change while still keeping out of sight and aiming to exit the debris field at just about the perfect time and location.

"Thinking about it", he said to nobody in particular, "there might be some sort of retaliation coming skywards at some point, it might be best if we weren't caught up in all that. Someone keep an eye on planet Earth will you?"

Mabbz

"On it," replied Jason. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep tabs on all the crew effectively in the midst of this situation, so he decided that he may as well try to help Michael. Strapping himself into a seat next to a console, he began to scan for any hostile action from Earth, while simultaneously hoping that any onboard insurgents weren't suicidal.