Snippet #2455487

Space: "The vast, endless, void between celestial bodies, outside of the Earth's atmosphere." What we used to think was so massive and boundless, we now understand as simple, and finite. Five-hundred years ago, no one could have guessed where we would end up now, or how we, the Human race, would come to be one of the most powerful presences in the galaxy. We learned, and changed our ways, thanks to the Planetary Union; and the Oracle in specific. They helped us learn to discourage the ways of war, and helped us evolve past our selfishness as a race... thats what we thought. But no one, not five-hundred years ago, not ten, and not even a year ago... could have predicted the events that would unfold, or what would befall our galaxy, and home world...



Silently, the U.S.F New Dawn ran through the darkness of the of the void; what was left of her. Its hul; fractured and twisted with its crew lost within the cold of space. They weren’t expecting an attack, nor were they prepared. Only thirty light years away from union borders, an area that had been declared safe for transit, they lowered their shields to divert power to the engine. They wanted to be home, after 2 long years in the vast darkness. But less than twenty light years away from Union territory, they were destroyed: Obliterated.

The New Dawn had been constructed years ago, one of the first human star-frigits in the Union. By far, it was the largest ship to ever be constructed by mankind. Having been its age, it had seen hundreds, if not thousands, of battles. In all of them, against any enemy, and all the odds, the New Dawn stood… Now, all that was left of her was twisted metal, and lifeless bodies, that floated through the void.

Through its destruction sliced another vessel. The remains of the New Dawn could not even meet half of the size of the ship that extinguished her light. Like a spider, with hundreds of outstretched legs wrapped around a central abdomen, the ship crawled through the darkness; as if the voids very fabric was forced to twist, and contort, around the vessel, shrouding it in complete darkness.

Just as swiftly as it annihilated the New Dawn, and its crew of one-thousand, it retreated into the darkness…



Date-
2nd of 19th, 39 Cycle.
4th of January, 2607

Time-
5:21:34:3 Oatheir Time.
6:21 PM, Earth Time.

Location-
Earth
Earth Alliance Headquarters, England

"Adding crew!?" John asked angrily as he smacked metal gauntlet onto the solid metal desk. If the desk was any other officers, he would have been court-marshaled on the spot. But Adm. Lucies simply chuckled to himself. The reaction of his subordinates never stopped to amaze him when they were given new orders, or a dreaded change to the crew.

"Six new members, Captain. That is all. You will get to keep the ships A.I., and we will only be removing three from your curr-" Quickly, Cpt. Duglas was quick to interject, quickly bringing himself out of the sitting position in the chair he was in so he stood over the Admirals head.

"Mark, that is exactly the part I don't like about this! You know that every soldier you remove from my crew, is one more that I have to train!" Impatient with the insubordination of his underling, the Admiral stood up to stand over the Captain. "Admiral, I need you to see my side on this! This will be the third 'Crew Augmentation' in less than a year. Admiral, come on! You're busting my balls here!"

Attempting to keep an even-keel, the Admiral spoke in a softer voice, slightly condescending, to get his point across. "These orders are over my head... Duglas. You know that the Union is tightening regulations; putting more men in priority ships, which is exactly what the 26th of November is... Now, I am left with no options here" He said, putting more force on the word Options. "The only choices you can make, are to either sign the documents, and take it up the ass like a man, or I will be forced to demote you Navigator, on your own ship."

Again, the Captain asked aggressively, taking a step back away from the Admirals desk, "But Admiral- does that constitute them taking two of my best fighters, as well as my engin-" Again, the captain was cut off when the Admiral, now obviously irritated, raised his finger to silence John.

"One more word about the Unions alterations to the 26th of November, and I will be left no other option but to put you on leave." To avoid a scene in the office, John left the Admiral no other choice but to bring out the big guns. Unable to continue the argument any further under the threat, John stood straight with his feet together, bringing his left hand up into a fist, bringing it into his heart; a traditional Union salute.

Swallowing his words, the Captain admitted defeat with a large lump in his stomach about the situation. Sitting back down in the chrome steel chair, John reached forward to pick up the piece of glass. In the holographic projection of the glass, John took one more quick read through of the document before reaching his right hand up, placing it in the center of the plastic. An electronic wur could be heard as his hand was pressed against the plastic. After a moment, it beeped, and the captain removed his hand from the document, stood up once more, and handed it to the Admiral. Placing it back on the desk, he quickly stood upright at attention, a blank frown splashed across his face as he held back spatting on the holo-doc.

"Permission to be dismissed, Admiral..." Holding back a growl, the Captain stood at attention, asking to leave the Admirals office. As he spoke, the Admiral raised his hand to dismiss the captain, but was interrupted when suddenly he flinched, hearing a series of commands run through the earpiece in his head.

"Captain, you have new orders..." The Admirals face seemed to be shocked, stricken with grave news. As the commands still ran through his earpiece, he began to speak them to the Captain, who stood with a confused look on his grizzled face. "The U.S.F New Dawn has just been confirmed... Destroyed."

John was baffled, dumbstruck, and at a loss for words. Before he could speak again, the Admiral began to read again "Its confirmed. Fifteen light years out of Union borders, it was destroyed.

"Captain. Assemble your crew, report to the November, and report to Oatheir immediately. You will have new orders there." It didn't hardly take a moment for the Admiral to snap up into a salute, and nod the Captain out of the room. Without a moment to hesitate, John stepped out of the office and down the long hallway, into the grav-lift. Simply by thinking, the Captain told the lift where he wanted to go, and within a moment found himself in the Atlas.

The Earth Alliance HQ, located in England, was all the way down at sea level. Because of the nuclear engines attached to the ends of starships, Earth had been declared too unsafe for any ship to lift off of. So, the Lunar Atlas, or just Atlas for short, was created. Placed within orbit of the moon, star ships of any size could safely dock on the Atlas, without the fear of polluting the atmosphere. But with that came another problem: How to get people in and out of Atlas in a moments notice, without the use of rockets or other means of transit that would take weeks to arrive?

The grav-lift was the answer. Basically working on the same concept of the Gravaton Drive, the engine in starships that aloud faster-than-light travel, the grav-lift would could simply warp the gravity around an individual, or object, and project it at faster-than-light speeds at the Atlas, where another grav-lift would act as a glove, catching the object or person, and placing them safely inside of the Atlas.

Something was wrong. In just a few short moments of arriving in the Atlas, John didn't have time to think about what the Admiral had just told him. The New Dawn, the largest, heaviest, and most well armed ship in the Alliance, had been destroyed. Though, he didn't seem to have much time to think about, according to the urgency in the Admiral's tone. There would be plenty of time to think during the two week trip to Oatheir.

After a few turns through the busy hallways of the Atlas, the Captain found himself in the Loading Bay: Dock 13. Under the painted words on the solid steel projected a hologram reading: U.S.F 26th of November. Smiling to himself, the Captain walked down another hallway to find himself in a massive chrome room... in the middle of which sat his pride and joy: The November. Taking a few more steps towards the ship, he slowly raised his left hand up to his mouth and spoke into his wrist-communicator: "I.o.n. Wake up the ship. We need to leave, now."

A few seconds after his words hit the communicator, the ship began to purr and groan awake once more. Walking forward to meet the ship, the bay door slowly hissed, and opened down to meet the floor as John took his first steps onto the November.

Once inside the doors, the captain placed his hand against a panel inside the bay, and closed his eyes. Focusing, John locked himself into the computers system, and began to speak. Connected to the ships communication systems, each one of his words would be sent through the ship, and into the crews personal communicators.

"Attention crew of the U.S.F 26th of November. This is your Captain speaking. All hands report ASAP to the November for immediate departure. Doors will close, and the November will be leaving in exactly ten Standard Earth minutes. All fighter pilots, report to the Bridge immediately. If you're not on the ship by then, the boats leaving people." With his final words, the Captain let go of the panel, disconnecting himself from the system, and walking further into the belly of the November.