The Draconus

Sentrosi · 28 Nov 2014

Officer

This is a little "Choose your own adventure" style of story they have when you click the Carrack preview. So I went ahead and named the ship, chose my crew and now share my story with you;

INTO THE UNKNOWN: A CARRACK & HER CREW
The city of Quinton transforms when the sun sets. A bustling commercial hub in the day, it becomes positively vibrant at night as the sea of multi-colored lights flicker to life. You step away from the window and turn back to your hangar. There’s a charge of energy in here too. Right now, it’s all focused around the Draconus, a Carrack-class cutting-edge exploration vessel from Anvil. NuclearMessiah is still arguing with the foodstuffs delivery from the local Torreele provider while you and the rest of the crew loaded the final supplies into the cargo hold. Khorneholio completes a final diagnostics of the ship systems and gave you the all-clear.

With a barely-contained excitement, you give the order:

"Let’s go exploring."

Day 2
:: ALERT :: SYSTEM SCAN :: ALERT ::
The Draconus drops out of Interspace and into the Nul System. Your helpful Galactapedia system info indicates that you are officially outside of UEE territory. The Nul System consists of five planets with two known landing zones. The Galactapedia advises caution, as this is a known pirate system. Respecting the potential danger, you keep your signature low in order to do a full sweep of the system without attracting any attention. NuclearMessiah plots a course around any landing zones to minimize the chance of running into someone.
The Draconus searches the system for hours. Unfortunately, the course setting was too cautious, preventing your dedicated scanning array from obtaining optimal data. After all that searching, you only have a little more information than you started with.

Day 8
:: ALERT :: MOON :: ALERT ::
A potential cosmic anomaly brings you near the second moon of Nul II, but when it turns out to just be a typical dust cloud, Scrub suggests :
"The data on the spectrum for the moon is a little light. While we're here, it might be a good idea to do a closer pass near the surface and see if we turn up anything interesting."
Trusting your crew's instincts, you instruct NuclearMessiah to bring the Draconus in close.
"Which side, sir?" NuclearMessiah asks, "Light or dark?"
Dark sides tend to see less traffic, which could mean less to find, but it could also mean more left for you to discover. With your best captain's voice you say, "Bring us in to the dark side." (of course!)
NuclearMessiah takes the ship in while Scrub goes to work. You study the dark horizon until the data begins to trickle into your console. NuclearMessiah changes their course after picking up some volcanic plumes in the distance.
"NuclearMessiah hold up," Scrub quickly blurts out.
NuclearMessiah slows the ship down and circles back.
"What is it?" you ask while staring quizzically at your terminal.
"Here," Scrub says and highlights a point on the scan map. You get closer to discover a series of old escape pods. Closer examination reveals them to be from a long-lost UEE Naval ship. Maybe it's somewhere in the area. Regardless, you make a note of the location and flag it to send to the Navy when you get back to UEE space.

Day 13
:: ALERT :: METEOROIDS :: ALERT ::
Scrub hails you excited, "Captain, scans are lighting up an uncharted meteoroid field off of starboard. Judging from its speed and direction, my guess is it's got a pretty big orbital path. It might not be in the area again for a long time." Knowing the kind of havoc an unexpected meteoroid field can wreak, you instruct Scrub to see if anything will be caught in its path.

It seems your foresight will pay off as you locate an Aurora floating in the meteoroid field's direct path. You have Scrub comm them only to have a frantic pilot on the other end explains that they are doing some emergency power plant repairs and are unable to move out of the way. Thinking fast, you order NuclearMessiah to protect the smaller Aurora by using the Carrack's robust hull as a shield. You arrive in position without a moment to spare, and are rewarded for your heroics with a crate of apples from Goss, and more dings in your plating than you care to count.

Day 20
:: ALERT :: RIVAL EXPLORERS :: ALERT ::
Chow time. Asp is on the bridge while the rest of the crew grabs some food. Khorneholio is in the middle of a story about a particularly raucous trip to Goss when the ship suddenly reverberates with the unmistakable hum of shields absorbing a shot. Everyone breaks for the bridge. You arrive to see a ship streak past the canopy.
A face comes over general comms, "This is our scrap of nowhere. Go find your own."
It's another exploration vessel named Rip'N'Rag. They roll their ship to bring their weapons to bear. Your crew looks at you expectantly. No one needs to die here. If they wanted to kill you, they wouldn't have stopped firing, so there's obviously a diplomatic resolution for this. Especially with hull integrity down 45%.
You activate your comm to the Rip'N'Rag captain.
"We'll leave, there's no problem."
The captain chuckles, "That was easy, maybe you should send over a list of cargo you got, might have something we need."
"I'd rather just go," you respond, subtly cueing your crew to get to battle stations.
The ensuing fight ends in a draw, with both ships getting some heavy hits in.

Day 32
:: ALERT :: JUMP POINT SCAN :: ALERT ::
A cup of tea warms your hand as you sit on the bridge gazing out of the Carrack's wraparound canopy. The endless expanse of space enveloping you causes your mind to wander... What would it be like to discover a new system? Would it be self-centered to name it after yourself? ... What if you made first contact? They could name a whole alien race after you... You really need to write a comm back to your cousin. Should you lend him the credits he's asking for? Your mother says New Austin doesn't really need another fufu restaurant –
"Captain, I'm picking up a signal."
Scrub's voice snaps you out of your reverie, "It's weak, but I think it might be a jump."
You focus your display onto the most recent scan info and sure enough, a faint glimmer is highlighted.
You never heard about entire crews being killed due to a severe case of caution. With a swallow, you temporarily bury your excitement about the possible find and have Asp launch a probe to gather some more information.
"Probe launching in three... two... crap!" Not exactly what you want to hear coming out of Asp's mouth, "aborting!" But it's too late; the probe explodes in the launch tube, rattling the ship, but thanks to the Carrack's sturdy construction, doing very minimal damage.
"Everything's still green, Captain," Khorneholio reports, "This ship can really take a beating."
"Explain to me why a probe just nearly punched a hole in my ship," you ask Asp.
Sheepishly the answer comes after some starts and stops, "Well, remember how I said I could get us a great deal on probes?"
By the time you get done instructing Asp on how thriftiness comes second to staying alive, the initial signal has disappeared from the scans. False alarm after all.

Day 40
:: ALERT :: BANU SLAVERS :: ALERT ::
A frantic call from NuclearMessiah wakes you in your bunk.
"Get up here. We got contact."
You race to the bridge to see a Banu Merchantman dead ahead.
"Have they hailed us?" you ask.
Scrub looks back at you, says they haven't stopped and flips the comms onto the speakers.
" – travel, friend, and shall be quite agreeable in the meantime of items and wares that might be desired or considered."
The Banu captain starts introducing his wares. You glare at NuclearMessiah, who bursts out laughing.
"I thought you might like to shop."
You look back to the comm screen to see the Banu present his next products: the crew of the Rip'N'Rag, the rival explorers from earlier, now enslaved. NuclearMessiah stops laughing. Without missing a beat, you demand that the Banu release the slaves.
The Banu captain regrets that you feel this way. He's not going to give up his property, which he purchased legally and under Banu contract. He does offer to sell them to you. You glance at Asp who aims their turret at the Merchantman. The Banu captain goes quiet then clicks off comm. His ship flashes its engines to make a hasty getaway.

Day 47
:: ALERT :: NEBULA :: ALERT ::
The Draconus slowly approaches a beautifully prismatic nebula. The dense fog of particles scramble your scans making it impossible to see what's inside. You glance at NuclearMessiah who shrugs, "no risk, no reward I guess."
"Yeah, unless we crash into an asteroid," Scrub replies sardonically.
"That is true," NuclearMessiah responds, then turns to you, "What's the call?"
You're out here to explore. Seems silly not to do that. You alert the rest of the crew to brace themselves and strap into your captain seat. "Let's go."
NuclearMessiah grins and eases the Draconus into the nebula.
It's slow going through the nebula for some time. Once inside, the Carrack's scanners are able to offer a little more visibility than outside the canopy window.
"Oh... wow..." Scrub mumbles in awe. You turn expectantly.
Scrub breaks into a big grin and highlights some asteroids up ahead, small but loaded with platinum.
"Guess this trip just paid for itself," you say with a smile.

Day 61
:: ALERT :: CREW PROBLEMS :: ALERT ::
"Are you seriously eating the last bakmi ayam pack? You know I brought those!"
With a deep sigh you tell NuclearMessiah to take the helm as you head down to the racks to see what the heck the matter is this time.
Holding a steaming bowl of noodles Asp innocently grins at Khorneholio, "We share everything in the galley. Ain't that right, Captain?"
"That bakmi is mine, Asp. I swear, you take one more bite and the next thing you'll be eating is my fist," snarls Khorneholio.
Locking eyes, the grin drops away from Asp's face as they raise a chopstick pinch of noodles towards their mouth.
It's always the same on these long expeditions. You stay too long in the black and crew'll start to crack a little. Just the way it is. It's best to let them sort this out on their own. They blow off some steam and it'll be good for everyone.
You cross your arms and watch as Khorneholio slaps the chopsticks out of Asp's hand. A few moments and broken dishes later, the fight comes to a sudden halt when Asp's head accidentally slams against the counter with a sickening dull thud.
"Asp, you alright?" Khorneholio asks as Asp's eyes roll back and their body goes limp.
You shove Khorneholio out of the way and crouch beside the quickly growing pool of blood. Head wounds always make a mess. You grab a nearby dishtowel and apply steady pressure to the wound.
"It was an accident," stammers Khorneholio, who by now is almost as pale as Asp is. So much for blowing off steam.
"Go get the medkit," you sternly order.
As Khorneholio dumbly heads out to retrieve the emergency kit from the hold, you take a moment to think. The medbay facilities on this ship can stabilize the injury, but they need intensive medical assistance.
You comm the bridge, "Scrub, see if that hospital ship we passed is still in the area. If they are, NuclearMessiah, I need you to get us to them fast."

Day 66
FUEL EMPTY
Your hydrogen scoop scavenges enough to get you moving, but it’s a snail’s pace. Certainly not fast enough to get you anywhere before your supplies run out. You set your beacon and hope for the best. Days stretch into weeks with no response. Everyone’s on quarter rations, but the crew’s on a razor’s edge. Then one day… salvation. A ship approaches. They don’t have any spare fuel to give you, but they can drop you all back on Olympus since it’s on their way. As you pull away from the darkened, lifeless hull of the Draconus you can’t help but wonder if this is the last time you’ll be seeing your ship ...
Click to expand...

NuclearMessiah · 28 Nov 2014

That's pretty cool.

StickMan9000 · 29 Nov 2014

If you make it through and find the jump point, you get a forum title and a nice art treat

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