The Fastest Man Alive
Chapter 67
By: BigToFu
Ororo Blake
Queen Mother of Pandora
Rolling her eyes over some of the reports, Ororo made a notation about a few students who thought they could fail out of a course by answering with completely incorrect answers. Honestly, if the school's teachers and AI's didn't catch the anomaly, they would have gotten away with it.
Too bad they didn't realize that a complete answer sheet of incorrect answers meant that they actually knew the course work, yet decided to give the proper incorrect answer. What made it interesting was that this was an occurrence from three different students attending different classes.
From all of the records, it was also very clear that they didn't have any prior knowledge of each other. Sending a quick message to the student's teachers to keep an eye on them. Ororo then turned her attention to another matter, an uprising of an entire civilization.
It was amazing that the Empire was expanding, she only wished that the Vondani had at least something resembling a general scholastic guideline. From her talks and investigations, everything was either word of mouth or passed down through apprenticeships.
Of course, the civilization had some form of written word and mathematics, but it wasn't even near the standards of Pandora. Letting out a huff at what she was seeing, Ororo stretched and allowed herself a nice long stretch before getting back to work.
Halfway through a plan to set up schools and observation locations both for school use and for botanic gardens, there was a double beep as the alarm for lunch sounded from her desk. Looking up with a quirk of her brow, Ororo was greeted with a pop-up schedule on her calendar.
From what she could tell, she had a lunch date with Medusa and Celeste. Giving her work a quick review, Ororo saved it before getting up from her desk and making her way out of the office.
Humming a light tune to herself, she made her way to the flight pad on the roof. Giving her omni one last check, Ororo took off with a burst of wind. Hair trailing behind her, Ororo did a lazy roll before settling one to her flying bike as it had flown to meet her halfway.
The engine of her cloud cruiser reeved once, then twice before she lurched in the seat as she was launched forwards with a whoop of joy. She performed twists and loops as she circled her way down into the island's flight traffic. Surprisingly even with the number of flying vehicles around, traffic moved far more swiftly here than it did back in New York or any other state.
Checking her corners, Ororo found her right clear before quickly pulling into a parking garage on the fifth floor. Checking for space and finding none, she opted to just get off at the door and let her bike fly back on its own with automated controls.
Pulling a leg from over her sky bike, Ororo input a command for a mirror hologram and inspected herself. A quick hairpin fixed her hair, then after a light touch-up of lipstick, Ororo was ready for her little lunch outing.
Twisting on her heel with ballerina-like grace, Ororo smiled as her bike took off on its course back home as she strolled through the double doors. Once she was through the doors, it didn't take her long to stroll through the mall's food court and find her lady and little girl waiting.
What she did find surprising was that Emma was also here: even if she was giving the burger a
disdainful glare. Walking up behind her lady love with a sultry chuckle, Ororo wrapped her arms around Emma's waist and pulled her into an embrace.
Emma half turned her head and returned the affection with a quick kiss to the lips with a smirk. "I can smell the wind in your hair." She said the sound of a smile clearly in her voice for all to hear.
Ororo let out another chuckle before going over and giving Medusa a kiss and hug as they then shared pleasantries. Once the initial greetings were over, her attention turned towards the little platinum blonde that carried a mix of Benjamin in her features.
Unfortunately, her daughter was completely ignoring her for the chicken nuggets and fries placed before her. Rolling her eyes, Ororo placed a kiss on Celeste's forehead before taking a seat and pulling the salad towards her.
Before she could dig into her salad, Emma sniffed at the side and made a comment, "I don't know why we must eat such a barbaric meal for lunch."
"You were the one who ordered the burger, and yet you are eating it with a knife and fork." Medusa said with a point of her hair, then rolled her eyes in return.
"Would you like some of my salad then?" Ororo asked as she peered at Emma.
"Of course," Emma said with a cheery smile before opening her mouth and eating right off of Ororo's fork.
Medusa looked on then let out a huff before her eyes shifted to Celeste at the side, "So, you got your meat and something light and airy, what else would you like added to your meal?"
Emma met her gaze before turning her nose up with a wink. Shaking her head at the interaction, Ororo turned to her daughter with a far too serious look on her face. Her hand lashed out faster than a striking cobra and Celeste was one fry less.
Her daughter sat there stunned at her fingers covered in ketchup as the fry vanished before she had gotten the chance to dip it. Letting out a chuckle at her shocked look, a flick of her finger had the rest of the fries vanish with a spell.
Levitating the invisible fries over to her side of the table, Ororo gave Celeste some time to realize her prized treat had vanished. They watched as she looked around for the rest of her fries only for her cookies to also vanish.
First the cute out that she knew her Benjamin would call a critical hit to the heart, then to furrowed brows. Once the face her hubby would call cuteness overload set in, Ororo watched as her daughter finally caught onto what was happening.
Once Celeste was finished with her thoughts, she then turned her pouting face towards her mothers. The glare and pout was that of a fierce kitten and she couldn't help herself as she leaned over and pulled her into a hug.
Ben was right, the kiwi was far too strong. Sitting Celeste on her lap, Ororo gave her the rest of the fries and then called over a waiter and ordered ice cream for everyone. With the mention of ice cream, she felt the stress drain right out of Celeste; and that was how Ororo wanted it.
Her daughter was far too young to be stressed, even if she was going to perform during the recital later. With a smile on her face, they continued to through the rest of their lunch.
After finishing their ice cream cones, the ladies went and got their nails done as the rest of the family on the island joined. Once they were finished, they did a quick transition home to change and gather their things before leaving for the civic center.
Everything changed when they arrived at the civic center all because of one person. The one person that claimed he was Celeste's biggest fan.
Emma tried to hide her embarrassment, Celeste turned pink with her sisters, while the rest of the family applied different variations of the classical face meet palm.
Standing in front of the civic center was Benjamin Blake with a shirt flashing neon colors. {Celeste's #1 FAN} There were even those foam fingers on each hand saying, {You're #1}
Standing around Ben were some of the Spartan guards holding different posters with various words of encouragement. Before anyone could say or do anything, they were each held and given a kiss that stole their breaths away.
No one had time to even think of being embarrassed as they were all blitzed with a being of high energy. Before she could even realize what was happening, Ororo was ushered inside and given a seat on the balcony overlooking the stage.
When she finally came to and took in the situation, everyone was seated around the balcony and was wearing some very garish shirts.
The entire family was in different shades of neon shirts with Celeste is number one on the front. That would have been bad enough, but on closer inspection. Ororo noticed the script right behind the neck on the outside of the shirt where the tag labels should have been located.
The script read, {Property of Natasha Blake, Queen of course. Return if found, or be hunted.}
Letting out a huff of laughter, she was far too lost for words to say anything as the lights dimmed and the curtains began to draw open. She was going to have to catch that little redhead and teach her a lesson or two before they got to finishing the terraforming of Mars.
Entwining her fingers with Sue, she settled into watching her daughter and her piano class put on a spectacular recital.
Natasha could get hers later.
[[=]][[=]]
Julian O'Tarr
Traveling to Nova Empire
Leaning back in her seat, Julian relaxed as she watched the passing stars on the walls that displayed an image of the outside. She still couldn't believe that she was in space, it sure was a long way from home.
Who would have thought that the shy girl who used to work in the Atlantean Magical Archives would have made it further than any of her people in history. Leaning back, a finger flicked across the holograms as she found herself humming one of those catchy surface tunes.
Sol had introduced her to someone called Dazzler and Julian couldn't get enough of her music. Scrolling through the information on the engines, she noticed that they were all in the green just before she was interrupted by a knock at the door.
Slowing turning in her seat, she looked over to the door and found Sol just hanging there with a smile on her metallic face. Honestly, Julian still hadn't wrapped her head around the fact that her friend's powers replaced her head with a miniature supernova. Then there was the little fact that the new empire she was a part of had made some type of magical metal that would not only contain the miniature star but also act as a simulacrum for her friend's face.
Then again, her disbelief had to be pushed to the side so that they could survive the Starfleet academy. Doing a five-year stint inside of a training chamber could have been a lot easier without the Drill Sergeants being out for blood. However, it did get everyone working together and helped people get over their own personal biases.
Pulling herself out of a floating hover, Julian gave Sol a smile as she ushered her into the cockpit and into the co-pilot's seat. Before she could say anything a bowl of oatmeal with a side of boiled eggs was placed into her hands. Quirking an eye, she gave Sol a speculative look.
"You missed lunch," Sol answered with a sigh, then pointed to the main hologram around them. "I kinda figured you had gotten lost amongst the stars."
Letting out a sigh as she turned back to the main display. "It is beautiful, isn't it?"
Out of the corner of her peripheral, Julian noticed her friend roll her eyes.
"Yeah, but I am more interested in seeing what we find out here. All we got is a map and a bag of holding with gold. I don't know about you, but I dont want his majesty coming after us thinking that we took his gold and scrammed."
Julian also made a face matching her friends. "True, but I believe he has placed trust in us and with the course, we have set. We shall not fail, because fate is on our side."
Sol snorted, "Yeah, set a course by fate. What could go wrong?"
There was a half a heartbeat as they both paused to take in the moment of silence. Then they both let out a sigh that they didn't even realize that they were holding. It was then that it happened.
ALERT!
ALERT!
ALERT!
[Subspace communication detected.]
[Decrypting, SOS most likely. Indications point to damage to the ship, failing life support.]
Eyes wide with a spoon full of oatmeal halfway to her lips, Julian couldn't stop the spark of accusation that flashed across her face. At least Sol had the decency to act like she was sorry before they both shot up and into action.
This was going to be a first contact situation and someone was in the need of help. Switches were flipped and alerts rang out around the ship as their little squad was put on red alert for possible combat.
Hands-on the controls, Julian pulled their shuttle out of hyperspace as they arrived at the edge of the system that the alert was being broadcast from.
"Talk to me Sol, what's the sensors saying?" Julian asked as her hands flew across controls. The ship was set into stealth and the heat from the engines was dumped before they shifted over to a more streamlined gravity propulsion.
Hands-on the flight stick and throttle, she eased them through the star cluster.
Maneuvering around a nasty set of asteroids, she heard Sol sharply take in a breath at the side.
"I found the ship and there is a nasty plasma leak from the engines and that's not all." Sol said as she rotated a ship on the overhead hologram. "Besides the engine's plasma leak, we don't have any life signs and it honestly looks like there has been a battle here."
Now just the sound of that caused Julian to let out a very unladylike snort. Of course, there had been a battle here, the wreckage of multiple ships could attest to that.
"Put the SOS on the screens so we can investigate."
Sol rolled her eyes as she entered a few commands to bring up where the SOS was coming from. While that was on the main display for Julian to guide them in. Sol decided to run an X-ray over all of the wreckage and really wished that she hadn't. The bounce back from the sensors lit up the battlefield like a Christmas tree with the corpses identified as bright little twinkling lights.
Deftly moving the flight controls, Julian showed her experience and skill as she slid the ship through and around the debris. As they flowed in and out of the destruction, Julian hit a few switches to launch a few drones to help canvas the area.
Pushing aside the sudden hunger that came with the appearance of the robotic squids that reminded her of the delights back home. Julian pulled the craft next to what appeared to be an air dock.
A command prompt had the visuals changed to crosshairs over the airlock, then with deft movements, everything locked into place. Interestingly enough, a ping brought her and Sol's attention to one of the drones.
From what she could see, the drone had found the header of the ship and it was called the Atlas. Putting the name of the ship to the side, Julian hopped out of her seat with clear excitement in her eyes. Honestly, she knew that she should not feel this way, but even if they had passed. This was proof of life outside of their solar system and it was also a clear goldmine of advanced alien technology.
Julian noticed that she didn't even have to give the commands, her team was already dressed and ready for some boarding action. Not only that, but as she looked into the cargo bay. She noticed that some of the squid drones were already bringing in what appeared to be intact communication nodes with other important-looking bits from the wreckage outside.
Leaving them to place the recovered wreckage into the subspace storage, Julian went to the changing room to get out of her overhauls and into her spacesuit. Taking ten minutes to get dressed, she made sure that all seals were secured before putting on her helm.
With her helm secured, Julian then flexed her fingers. Water shot up and around her before solidifying into ice and then back into water. With a nod of her head, she turned around to find Sol doing the same, but with metallic shards.
She waited on the side reading over some of the information collected by the drones as she waited on Sol to finish her own checks. The pat on her shoulder alerted her to the fact that Sol was ready to go. Putting away the tablet with the scans from a metallurgy sample, Julian turned her attention to radiation levels on her HUD.
With everything inside nominal levels for her and her team, she took a breath, then gave the go ahead to open the airlock. There was a hiss of seals and then one solid pop which Julian had to admit, she felt in her chest.
Shaking off the feeling, she followed behind her assault commander as he led the way onto the wrecked ship. From what she could tell, the ship was clearly not human of origin, but it shared so many similarities she was astounded. Yeah, she was certain that a healthy bonus was going to come her way once the location of the wreckage was reported. It was an easy three-day trip by FTL jump on the way to Nova.
As she let her team check the ship over, Julian noticed that Sol had gone of course, and started to inspect a wall in the middle of the med bay. It was clear with the sterilized room and clean beds and scanners on the wall that this was the med bay. The strange design had the med bay on the same level as the cafeteria.
Again, putting that thought aside, she gave Sol a nudge. What she wasn't expecting was for her friend to jump.
"Well, with that we can see you have bested the mighty alien invaders." Julian stated with a chuckle.
"Har, har, am ignoring you to find out why the scans are picking up a lifeform behind this section of wall." Sol replied with clear sarcasm. Yet, the mention of a life sign did draw in her friend.
Instead of saying anything, Julian took a step back and drew on her powers forming a raging storm of ice lances. Sol took one look at her friend before her eyes widened in shock and she steeled herself for what was to come. Taking a step back and standing shoulder to shoulder with Julian, she then flexed her powers.
Glaring at the false wall, Sol flexed her fingers and watched as what took the place for metal screws and rivets popped then flew from the wall to hover before her. There was a screech of metal as the wall moved to reveal… a man in a cryotube.
On the front of the cryotube was a name... Jack Atlas, interesting. This Jack was inside of an all-blue suit with red stripes from what they could tell. Yet, it was the thing on his back and listed on the scans that drew their attention more than the frost and the handsome features before them.
{Blue Scarab Protector.}
Before they could get any more information out of the systems on what a Blue Scarab was, an alarm sounded. Julian's eyes widened as she checked the alert. What she found did not set her at ease, instead, her hackles raised and she was ready for war.
From the alert, the ship's main scanners had picked up a massive ship dropping out of hyperspace right on top of them. That would have been alright, but what sent her into total war mode was the announcement that they had the right of claim over whatever it was sending out the SOS for payment of rescue.
On her omni, Julian found that her team had also reactivated the ship's life support and were in the process of downloading all of the data onboard.
Thinking quickly, she checked the translation software and noticed that it was already broadcasting in galactic basic.
[This is Julian O'Tarr of the Pandoran Empire performing rescue operations. Breaking civility will bring the full might of the Empire down upon you.]
Her omni shifted as a communications broadcast was triggered. If she hadn't done her studies in Starfleet, Julian would have thought the man on the screen was one of the largest Atlantians she had ever seen.
Yet, she knew better and could tell that he was a centurion from the Kree Empire. The red and gold flames over his heart marked him clearly as a member of the Ravagers, a group of mercenaries and outlaws.
Another interesting thing she noticed was the large red crest of hair on his head. It looked to be a mix of fiber optics and cybernetics.
Julian squinted for a brief second before the memory jogged itself loose, "Wait, those are Ravager colors."
Sol couldn't help but scowl at the man, "Aren't they pirates?"
"Pirate," Yondu said in shock as he looked around as if they were accusing him of stealing someone's firstborn. Letting out a full belly laugh, Yondu put his arrow away as he tried a roguish grin, "Girl, I might be pretty as an angel, but I don't attack refugees hit by the mad titan. Names Yondu Udonta and I'm Captain of these mighty fine upstanding citizens of the galaxy."
"Yeah, tell'em capt'n we upstanding people."
Already, Julian could feel a headache forming, why had she left her ocean? Ohh yeah, Sol had filled her head with talks of adventure and being the first amongst the stars.
[[=]][[=]]
Author's Notes:
Interlude 1
Man, people really need to relax. Came across a few comments on some stories that just blew my mind away. These are fanfiction and some folks are just talking it far too serious. Man, chill, almost everything mankind has made was a product of another's mind.
Once upon a time, even the bike was considered fantasy and of the devil, then again even the devil is a product of someone else's mind from the dark ages.
See, everything was, is, and has come from some person's mind. So can't we all just take a chill pill, relax and just enjoy the fruits of another's labor.
Ohh, would you look at that, the plots progressing. Got a few more things to touch on with upcoming chapters. I hope you guys enjoy the slice of life. I want to get the planets in order first before pushing forward some more plots and plans.
Removes the - for the internet links
If you are looking to get early chapters and read all the good stuff I haven't posted to the public yet, support a brotha-man with the link below.
TheToFu
If you are willing to come to hang out with the rapidly growing community, check out the link below and come chat with myself and all the colorful characters in the discord server.
www - DISCORD - GG - p2QJNck
The Fastest Man Alive
Chapter 67
By: BigToFu
Ororo Blake
Queen Mother of Pandora
Rolling her eyes over some of the reports, Ororo made a notation about a few students who thought they could fail out of a course by answering with completely incorrect answers. Honestly, if the school's teachers and AI's didn't catch the anomaly, they would have gotten away with it.
Too bad they didn't realize that a complete answer sheet of incorrect answers meant that they actually knew the course work, yet decided to give the proper incorrect answer. What made it interesting was that this was an occurrence from three different students attending different classes.
From all of the records, it was also very clear that they didn't have any prior knowledge of each other. Sending a quick message to the student's teachers to keep an eye on them. Ororo then turned her attention to another matter, an uprising of an entire civilization.
It was amazing that the Empire was expanding, she only wished that the Vondani had at least something resembling a general scholastic guideline. From her talks and investigations, everything was either word of mouth or passed down through apprenticeships.
Of course, the civilization had some form of written word and mathematics, but it wasn't even near the standards of Pandora. Letting out a huff at what she was seeing, Ororo stretched and allowed herself a nice long stretch before getting back to work.
Halfway through a plan to set up schools and observation locations both for school use and for botanic gardens, there was a double beep as the alarm for lunch sounded from her desk. Looking up with a quirk of her brow, Ororo was greeted with a pop-up schedule on her calendar.
From what she could tell, she had a lunch date with Medusa and Celeste. Giving her work a quick review, Ororo saved it before getting up from her desk and making her way out of the office.
Humming a light tune to herself, she made her way to the flight pad on the roof. Giving her omni one last check, Ororo took off with a burst of wind. Hair trailing behind her, Ororo did a lazy roll before settling one to her flying bike as it had flown to meet her halfway.
The engine of her cloud cruiser reeved once, then twice before she lurched in the seat as she was launched forwards with a whoop of joy. She performed twists and loops as she circled her way down into the island's flight traffic. Surprisingly even with the number of flying vehicles around, traffic moved far more swiftly here than it did back in New York or any other state.
Checking her corners, Ororo found her right clear before quickly pulling into a parking garage on the fifth floor. Checking for space and finding none, she opted to just get off at the door and let her bike fly back on its own with automated controls.
Pulling a leg from over her sky bike, Ororo input a command for a mirror hologram and inspected herself. A quick hairpin fixed her hair, then after a light touch-up of lipstick, Ororo was ready for her little lunch outing.
Twisting on her heel with ballerina-like grace, Ororo smiled as her bike took off on its course back home as she strolled through the double doors. Once she was through the doors, it didn't take her long to stroll through the mall's food court and find her lady and little girl waiting.
What she did find surprising was that Emma was also here: even if she was giving the burger a
disdainful glare. Walking up behind her lady love with a sultry chuckle, Ororo wrapped her arms around Emma's waist and pulled her into an embrace.
Emma half turned her head and returned the affection with a quick kiss to the lips with a smirk. "I can smell the wind in your hair." She said the sound of a smile clearly in her voice for all to hear.
Ororo let out another chuckle before going over and giving Medusa a kiss and hug as they then shared pleasantries. Once the initial greetings were over, her attention turned towards the little platinum blonde that carried a mix of Benjamin in her features.
Unfortunately, her daughter was completely ignoring her for the chicken nuggets and fries placed before her. Rolling her eyes, Ororo placed a kiss on Celeste's forehead before taking a seat and pulling the salad towards her.
Before she could dig into her salad, Emma sniffed at the side and made a comment, "I don't know why we must eat such a barbaric meal for lunch."
"You were the one who ordered the burger, and yet you are eating it with a knife and fork." Medusa said with a point of her hair, then rolled her eyes in return.
"Would you like some of my salad then?" Ororo asked as she peered at Emma.
"Of course," Emma said with a cheery smile before opening her mouth and eating right off of Ororo's fork.
Medusa looked on then let out a huff before her eyes shifted to Celeste at the side, "So, you got your meat and something light and airy, what else would you like added to your meal?"
Emma met her gaze before turning her nose up with a wink. Shaking her head at the interaction, Ororo turned to her daughter with a far too serious look on her face. Her hand lashed out faster than a striking cobra and Celeste was one fry less.
Her daughter sat there stunned at her fingers covered in ketchup as the fry vanished before she had gotten the chance to dip it. Letting out a chuckle at her shocked look, a flick of her finger had the rest of the fries vanish with a spell.
Levitating the invisible fries over to her side of the table, Ororo gave Celeste some time to realize her prized treat had vanished. They watched as she looked around for the rest of her fries only for her cookies to also vanish.
First the cute out that she knew her Benjamin would call a critical hit to the heart, then to furrowed brows. Once the face her hubby would call cuteness overload set in, Ororo watched as her daughter finally caught onto what was happening.
Once Celeste was finished with her thoughts, she then turned her pouting face towards her mothers. The glare and pout was that of a fierce kitten and she couldn't help herself as she leaned over and pulled her into a hug.
Ben was right, the kiwi was far too strong. Sitting Celeste on her lap, Ororo gave her the rest of the fries and then called over a waiter and ordered ice cream for everyone. With the mention of ice cream, she felt the stress drain right out of Celeste; and that was how Ororo wanted it.
Her daughter was far too young to be stressed, even if she was going to perform during the recital later. With a smile on her face, they continued to through the rest of their lunch.
After finishing their ice cream cones, the ladies went and got their nails done as the rest of the family on the island joined. Once they were finished, they did a quick transition home to change and gather their things before leaving for the civic center.
Everything changed when they arrived at the civic center all because of one person. The one person that claimed he was Celeste's biggest fan.
Emma tried to hide her embarrassment, Celeste turned pink with her sisters, while the rest of the family applied different variations of the classical face meet palm.
Standing in front of the civic center was Benjamin Blake with a shirt flashing neon colors. {Celeste's #1 FAN} There were even those foam fingers on each hand saying, {You're #1}
Standing around Ben were some of the Spartan guards holding different posters with various words of encouragement. Before anyone could say or do anything, they were each held and given a kiss that stole their breaths away.
No one had time to even think of being embarrassed as they were all blitzed with a being of high energy. Before she could even realize what was happening, Ororo was ushered inside and given a seat on the balcony overlooking the stage.
When she finally came to and took in the situation, everyone was seated around the balcony and was wearing some very garish shirts.
The entire family was in different shades of neon shirts with Celeste is number one on the front. That would have been bad enough, but on closer inspection. Ororo noticed the script right behind the neck on the outside of the shirt where the tag labels should have been located.
The script read, {Property of Natasha Blake, Queen of course. Return if found, or be hunted.}
Letting out a huff of laughter, she was far too lost for words to say anything as the lights dimmed and the curtains began to draw open. She was going to have to catch that little redhead and teach her a lesson or two before they got to finishing the terraforming of Mars.
Entwining her fingers with Sue, she settled into watching her daughter and her piano class put on a spectacular recital.
Natasha could get hers later.
[[=]][[=]]
Julian O'Tarr
Traveling to Nova Empire
Leaning back in her seat, Julian relaxed as she watched the passing stars on the walls that displayed an image of the outside. She still couldn't believe that she was in space, it sure was a long way from home.
Who would have thought that the shy girl who used to work in the Atlantean Magical Archives would have made it further than any of her people in history. Leaning back, a finger flicked across the holograms as she found herself humming one of those catchy surface tunes.
Sol had introduced her to someone called Dazzler and Julian couldn't get enough of her music. Scrolling through the information on the engines, she noticed that they were all in the green just before she was interrupted by a knock at the door.
Slowing turning in her seat, she looked over to the door and found Sol just hanging there with a smile on her metallic face. Honestly, Julian still hadn't wrapped her head around the fact that her friend's powers replaced her head with a miniature supernova. Then there was the little fact that the new empire she was a part of had made some type of magical metal that would not only contain the miniature star but also act as a simulacrum for her friend's face.
Then again, her disbelief had to be pushed to the side so that they could survive the Starfleet academy. Doing a five-year stint inside of a training chamber could have been a lot easier without the Drill Sergeants being out for blood. However, it did get everyone working together and helped people get over their own personal biases.
Pulling herself out of a floating hover, Julian gave Sol a smile as she ushered her into the cockpit and into the co-pilot's seat. Before she could say anything a bowl of oatmeal with a side of boiled eggs was placed into her hands. Quirking an eye, she gave Sol a speculative look.
"You missed lunch," Sol answered with a sigh, then pointed to the main hologram around them. "I kinda figured you had gotten lost amongst the stars."
Letting out a sigh as she turned back to the main display. "It is beautiful, isn't it?"
Out of the corner of her peripheral, Julian noticed her friend roll her eyes.
"Yeah, but I am more interested in seeing what we find out here. All we got is a map and a bag of holding with gold. I don't know about you, but I dont want his majesty coming after us thinking that we took his gold and scrammed."
Julian also made a face matching her friends. "True, but I believe he has placed trust in us and with the course, we have set. We shall not fail, because fate is on our side."
Sol snorted, "Yeah, set a course by fate. What could go wrong?"
There was a half a heartbeat as they both paused to take in the moment of silence. Then they both let out a sigh that they didn't even realize that they were holding. It was then that it happened.
ALERT!
ALERT!
ALERT!
[Subspace communication detected.]
[Decrypting, SOS most likely. Indications point to damage to the ship, failing life support.]
Eyes wide with a spoon full of oatmeal halfway to her lips, Julian couldn't stop the spark of accusation that flashed across her face. At least Sol had the decency to act like she was sorry before they both shot up and into action.
This was going to be a first contact situation and someone was in the need of help. Switches were flipped and alerts rang out around the ship as their little squad was put on red alert for possible combat.
Hands-on the controls, Julian pulled their shuttle out of hyperspace as they arrived at the edge of the system that the alert was being broadcast from.
"Talk to me Sol, what's the sensors saying?" Julian asked as her hands flew across controls. The ship was set into stealth and the heat from the engines was dumped before they shifted over to a more streamlined gravity propulsion.
Hands-on the flight stick and throttle, she eased them through the star cluster.
Maneuvering around a nasty set of asteroids, she heard Sol sharply take in a breath at the side.
"I found the ship and there is a nasty plasma leak from the engines and that's not all." Sol said as she rotated a ship on the overhead hologram. "Besides the engine's plasma leak, we don't have any life signs and it honestly looks like there has been a battle here."
Now just the sound of that caused Julian to let out a very unladylike snort. Of course, there had been a battle here, the wreckage of multiple ships could attest to that.
"Put the SOS on the screens so we can investigate."
Sol rolled her eyes as she entered a few commands to bring up where the SOS was coming from. While that was on the main display for Julian to guide them in. Sol decided to run an X-ray over all of the wreckage and really wished that she hadn't. The bounce back from the sensors lit up the battlefield like a Christmas tree with the corpses identified as bright little twinkling lights.
Deftly moving the flight controls, Julian showed her experience and skill as she slid the ship through and around the debris. As they flowed in and out of the destruction, Julian hit a few switches to launch a few drones to help canvas the area.
Pushing aside the sudden hunger that came with the appearance of the robotic squids that reminded her of the delights back home. Julian pulled the craft next to what appeared to be an air dock.
A command prompt had the visuals changed to crosshairs over the airlock, then with deft movements, everything locked into place. Interestingly enough, a ping brought her and Sol's attention to one of the drones.
From what she could see, the drone had found the header of the ship and it was called the Atlas. Putting the name of the ship to the side, Julian hopped out of her seat with clear excitement in her eyes. Honestly, she knew that she should not feel this way, but even if they had passed. This was proof of life outside of their solar system and it was also a clear goldmine of advanced alien technology.
Julian noticed that she didn't even have to give the commands, her team was already dressed and ready for some boarding action. Not only that, but as she looked into the cargo bay. She noticed that some of the squid drones were already bringing in what appeared to be intact communication nodes with other important-looking bits from the wreckage outside.
Leaving them to place the recovered wreckage into the subspace storage, Julian went to the changing room to get out of her overhauls and into her spacesuit. Taking ten minutes to get dressed, she made sure that all seals were secured before putting on her helm.
With her helm secured, Julian then flexed her fingers. Water shot up and around her before solidifying into ice and then back into water. With a nod of her head, she turned around to find Sol doing the same, but with metallic shards.
She waited on the side reading over some of the information collected by the drones as she waited on Sol to finish her own checks. The pat on her shoulder alerted her to the fact that Sol was ready to go. Putting away the tablet with the scans from a metallurgy sample, Julian turned her attention to radiation levels on her HUD.
With everything inside nominal levels for her and her team, she took a breath, then gave the go ahead to open the airlock. There was a hiss of seals and then one solid pop which Julian had to admit, she felt in her chest.
Shaking off the feeling, she followed behind her assault commander as he led the way onto the wrecked ship. From what she could tell, the ship was clearly not human of origin, but it shared so many similarities she was astounded. Yeah, she was certain that a healthy bonus was going to come her way once the location of the wreckage was reported. It was an easy three-day trip by FTL jump on the way to Nova.
As she let her team check the ship over, Julian noticed that Sol had gone of course, and started to inspect a wall in the middle of the med bay. It was clear with the sterilized room and clean beds and scanners on the wall that this was the med bay. The strange design had the med bay on the same level as the cafeteria.
Again, putting that thought aside, she gave Sol a nudge. What she wasn't expecting was for her friend to jump.
"Well, with that we can see you have bested the mighty alien invaders." Julian stated with a chuckle.
"Har, har, am ignoring you to find out why the scans are picking up a lifeform behind this section of wall." Sol replied with clear sarcasm. Yet, the mention of a life sign did draw in her friend.
Instead of saying anything, Julian took a step back and drew on her powers forming a raging storm of ice lances. Sol took one look at her friend before her eyes widened in shock and she steeled herself for what was to come. Taking a step back and standing shoulder to shoulder with Julian, she then flexed her powers.
Glaring at the false wall, Sol flexed her fingers and watched as what took the place for metal screws and rivets popped then flew from the wall to hover before her. There was a screech of metal as the wall moved to reveal… a man in a cryotube.
On the front of the cryotube was a name... Jack Atlas, interesting. This Jack was inside of an all-blue suit with red stripes from what they could tell. Yet, it was the thing on his back and listed on the scans that drew their attention more than the frost and the handsome features before them.
{Blue Scarab Protector.}
Before they could get any more information out of the systems on what a Blue Scarab was, an alarm sounded. Julian's eyes widened as she checked the alert. What she found did not set her at ease, instead, her hackles raised and she was ready for war.
From the alert, the ship's main scanners had picked up a massive ship dropping out of hyperspace right on top of them. That would have been alright, but what sent her into total war mode was the announcement that they had the right of claim over whatever it was sending out the SOS for payment of rescue.
On her omni, Julian found that her team had also reactivated the ship's life support and were in the process of downloading all of the data onboard.
Thinking quickly, she checked the translation software and noticed that it was already broadcasting in galactic basic.
[This is Julian O'Tarr of the Pandoran Empire performing rescue operations. Breaking civility will bring the full might of the Empire down upon you.]
Her omni shifted as a communications broadcast was triggered. If she hadn't done her studies in Starfleet, Julian would have thought the man on the screen was one of the largest Atlantians she had ever seen.
Yet, she knew better and could tell that he was a centurion from the Kree Empire. The red and gold flames over his heart marked him clearly as a member of the Ravagers, a group of mercenaries and outlaws.
Another interesting thing she noticed was the large red crest of hair on his head. It looked to be a mix of fiber optics and cybernetics.
Julian squinted for a brief second before the memory jogged itself loose, "Wait, those are Ravager colors."
Sol couldn't help but scowl at the man, "Aren't they pirates?"
"Pirate," Yondu said in shock as he looked around as if they were accusing him of stealing someone's firstborn. Letting out a full belly laugh, Yondu put his arrow away as he tried a roguish grin, "Girl, I might be pretty as an angel, but I don't attack refugees hit by the mad titan. Names Yondu Udonta and I'm Captain of these mighty fine upstanding citizens of the galaxy."
"Yeah, tell'em capt'n we upstanding people."
Already, Julian could feel a headache forming, why had she left her ocean? Ohh yeah, Sol had filled her head with talks of adventure and being the first amongst the stars.
[[=]][[=]]
Author's Notes:
Interlude 1
Man, people really need to relax. Came across a few comments on some stories that just blew my mind away. These are fanfiction and some folks are just talking it far too serious. Man, chill, almost everything mankind has made was a product of another's mind.
Once upon a time, even the bike was considered fantasy and of the devil, then again even the devil is a product of someone else's mind from the dark ages.
See, everything was, is, and has come from some person's mind. So can't we all just take a chill pill, relax and just enjoy the fruits of another's labor.
Ohh, would you look at that, the plots progressing. Got a few more things to touch on with upcoming chapters. I hope you guys enjoy the slice of life. I want to get the planets in order first before pushing forward some more plots and plans.
Removes the - for the internet links
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