Cath

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

Tired as she was, having not slept for three days, Mallory’s words served to jolt Zey awake. Her chemical gland followed suit, pumping stimulants around her system. If they all went in and things turned hostile, the Jo could lose its Captain, XO, four engineers and a senior Tamerlane contractor. The rest of the crew and passengers would have next to no chance of leaving this planet without a rescue team. Zey was already bending all the rules of first contact by going in there; there was no way she was going to sit back and let the others reap all the glory. But there had to be some sort of counterbalance.

“Noted, but there’s no way I’m letting you go in alone. Too dangerous. That being said…” Zey replied to Mallory, then turned to Zhao.

“Zhao, I know you’re going in for Vigdis but I'm pulling rank. You’re staying put - Anselm can take over Command, but we can’t lose all our engineers. Organise the crew and take defensive positions by the airlock. We won’t be long.”

“Captain!”

“That is an ORDER!” Zey snapped, face rippling with adrenaline.

Zhao let off a string of expletives in Mandarin that the Captain didn’t catch, then stormed off.

Zey followed her away with a stern look, then turned to Danny Varen and Tyreese Darnell.

“You too Danny. Can’t let you and Dr Ibarra both in that room…Mr Darnell, If I give you a weapon, will you shoot me in the back?” Tyreese sniffed nervously and shook his head.

“No ma’am.” He replied sheepishly.

Zey stared into his eyes for a moment. He wasn’t that drunk, and she needed someone imposing to show that while they spoke softly, they had big sticks too.

She took Danny’s Benelli shotgun and put it into Darnell’s grip.

“Stand in front of me and don’t do anything stupid or I’ll kill you myself. Everyone ready?”

With that lightning reshuffle completed, Zey filtered into the airlock behind Mallory, followed by Dr Ibarra, and Tyreese Darnell. The airlock cycled again, and they emerged out into the shuttle bay. Zey held her palms out and tried not to panic as she saw the creatures at one end by Vigdis. Her heart rate and breathing increased, and her mask made a rasping sound as it processed the air.

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

“Who the fuck is in my shuttle bay now?” Zey demanded over comms. Wodan answered immediately over the intercom - they had been watching closely via cameras from the moment these creatures came into range.

“Based on Supplementary Crewmember Jonsdottir’s current line of inquiry, it is possible that two of the creatures are named Kareet and Kerchak.”

“Creatures? What is that supposed to mean?” Zey snapped as she left her cabin clothed in her regular uniform trousers and a white cotton vest.

“These individuals do not match any of my biota records; I have now published lookalike physiological profiles on the intranet. Would you like me to read them out?”

“Shut up and track their positions - transmit them to our tablets. Don’t let them out of your sight.”

The Captain’s quarters were the closest to the stairwell down onto the operations deck, but Zey still found a gaggle of people had got to the airlock before her. The engineers were working pretty much round the clock, and Mallory had the Bridge, so she wasn’t surprised to see them. She was surprised to find Tyreese Darnell exiting the conference room as she reached the armoury.

“What’s happening?” Darnell slurred.

“We have unexpected guests. Are you drunk? Go upstairs, sober up and don’t let any passengers down here.” Zey barked, before striding into the armoury and grabbing a pistol. It was the only type of gun she had any experience with, but she figured it was better than nothing. Locking and loading it, she stuffed it into the holster attached to a plate carrier and hoisted that over her head and onto her body. She finished up by donning an anti-flash hood and gloves along with an oxygen mask. Zey usually erred on the side of caution, but there was no time to put a full fire retardant suit on now.

Vigdis had begun giving them some very strange intelligence over comms while she tooled up. Zey was listening intently when Darnell steamed into the armoury, followed by a stiff Danny Varen who already had a Benelli in his hands and a fresh, unburnt pair of beach shorts over his bandages.

“Are those terrorists back? I can help - this is my ship too, you know.” Darnell interjected. He eyed up some of the weapons but appeared hesitant. Zey didn’t have time for this shit.

“Fine. Stay behind Danny and stay quiet, let me do the talking. Understood?” With that, she headed out and linked up with Mallory, Dr Ibarra and Zhao Jiayin in the airlock. The first two were armed to the teeth; Zhao appeared to be equipped with nothing but one of her nighttime flip flops. Zey immediately knew from the look on the lead engineer's face that nothing the Captain could say would stop her from going in. One of Zhao’s own was in danger.

“Ok Vigdis, we’re coming in now. Tell your friends to cool it. Mallory, cycle the airlock.”

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

Darnell hissed as the cold pack touched the back of his head. It felt like someone had stamped on his face and back of neck, which is probably exactly what happened in that toilet as the Jotunheim crashed. He’d been on the floor with Ezra crouched over him, pushing at each wall. Then they’d been weightless, crashing around like they were inside a washing machine. Then he’d blacked out for a bit, and had only really just got his shit together now.

The med bay was overrun, so he was sitting on a couch in the corridor outside the mess hall. Ezra sat next to him, applying finishing touches to the stitched up cut on his arm. The mercenary had taken his helmet off and put it on the floor between his feet; this guy had greying black hair, dark searching eyes and moisturised, slightly paunchy skin. Paler and a bit older than Darnell had expected, but still undeniably fit and dangerous.

“We should go up there, straighten some things out.” Darnell said, dabbing the ice pack down his neck.

“You have a concussion, makes you not think straight.”

“If only they’d listened to me, we could’ve defended that hangar until Tamerlane sent troops.”
“You may be right.”

“Of course i’m fucking right, just look at you mate.”

Ezra chuckled - the first time Darnell had heard him do that. It sounded like sand dunes shifting in the wind, a dry crackling.

“Now we’re God knows where, probably some other solar system based on these masks they gave out.” Tyreese added.

“I thought that just equipment failure. We somewhere remote, not dangerous. Scotland maybe?”

Darnell paused, realising he may have not mentioned the FTL feature on the ship they’d been trying to stop.

“I’ll talk to the Captain, figure all this out.”

“That was not part of our deal.” Ezra growled.

---

Zey took the clipboard from Dr Feng and examined it quietly as Mallory said his piece. As a captain, she had trained for moments like these. But the prospect that she could have to do it over and over again until there was no one left made her feel sick. She grabbed a stylus, and angling the clipboard so it was hard for anyone else to see, wrote in small script at the bottom:

“ZK - conserve supplies.”

Zey waited until Mallory finished.

“Thank you, Mallory. I hope that is clear to everyone.”

She handed the pad back to Duncan. “And thank you, doctor. We’ll make sure you get blood. Please, go back to your patients now. That goes for the rest of you too, I’ll update you once we know more. Dismissed.”

---

It became clear beyond any doubt the next morning that they were on a different planet, with a different sun. They’d skipped straight out of the Solar System and ended up somewhere new in just an instant. The command crew couldn’t find a single point of reference with which they could reorient.

At dawn, the fires had died down enough for the survey team to venture forth. With morning sunrays peeking over the horizon, Zey stood by the pilot’s chair on the Bridge and gazed out of the scratched wraparound window.

The Jotunheim had rolled sideways up a rocky hill range, so the right side of the window afforded her a glimpse of the scorched earth and the massive divot the Jo had made before rolling back down and coming to rest on a craggy outcropping. Burning alien trees stood all around, sending up a plume of black smoke into the air. She could hear faint bangs and the whoosh of fire suppressants outside.

If Zey craned her neck looking out of the left hand window, she could still see the trail of destruction the Jotunheim had left in its wake. Upturned earth, jagged bits of metal and pools of flaming fuel meandered down the hill.

Beyond this devastation was a stunning vista out across a wide marshy plain. Strange rock formations and alien vegetation surrounded mossy ponds far into the distance. Stuck between the land and the sky along the horizon was the large body of water Zey they’d passed on their chaotic descent. She could just about make out a river that fed into or out of it.

“What can you see?” She asked the survey team over radio.

Turns out pretty much the entire sensory array had indeed been taken clean off or damaged in the crash. The team deployed a portable sensor bank outside, then got to work releasing Wodan’s repair droids from their nests around the hull. Some had taken a beating, but others were operational and immediately got to work spreading their eyes around the outside of the ship.

This short-range package of sensors picked up that the oxygen content was even higher than originally thought, at 29.1%. On Earth it was 21%.

Zey gave this news to everyone together in the mess room at lunch together. All the signs suggested they had accidentally jumped to some unknown planet. With FTL travel still a new technology, rescue could be some time. The crew had prepared for this eventuality; the civilians hadn’t. There was acrimony, accusations, threats. Zey understood how they felt, and did her best to calm them.

The next couple of days were a controlled process of taking stock of their resources, prioritising and planning a repair schedule that accounted for decreased headcount, and figuring out who they could spare to keep watch on the perimeter.

Zey needed all her crew and most of her robots doing their actual jobs - they were no good to her standing around in the cold. She considered creating a rota for the civilians, but discarded that notion as well. None of them had real combat experience - if something showed up, they’d be next to useless.

In the end, Zey was forced to ask Ezra to take watch, along with Wodan’s two androids. She didn’t trust the mercenary, but figured he was the only professional soldier onboard - that made him more valuable out there than handing engineers their tools. Her one condition was that he had to wear a Tamerlane patch.

It was just before dawn on the third day that Zey knew she’d made the right call. The whole command crew was woken by a loud notification from Ezra, who was hidden near the crest of the hill, that…something had flown overhead. Zey had been awake anyway, but resting her eyes. She opened them and stared out of the thick viewing port above her bed. Wisps of smoke and flame, left over from their crash, were rising up into the night in long tendrils.

“What the fuck…” Zey murmured, hauling herself out of bed.

“I can see something in the air. I have a shot.” Ezra followed up to her over comms.

“Don’t engage. Observe and feedback!” Zey hissed. She then pinged her whole staff.

“Everybody up and to the armoury! There’s something outside.”

Well Met!

Welcome to the Guild, @QJT!

Hellooooooooooo, I'm Jay

@Jay Styx Welcome to the Guild! What kind of ship?

Howdy

@Catharyn Ah, I don't know how I feel about joining a RP with 5 pages of lore established lol but for sure hit me up for your next one, I like the way you write.

@ORXC

No problem!

Howdy

@ORXC Now you're speaking my language!! We've just started a high fantasy + sci-fi RP with loads of character dev/worldbuilding potential that you might like. Link here if you wanna check it out: roleplayerguild.com/topics/189457-the…

Hello there, I'm Duckie ♥ !

@Duckie I love the sound of all of those! We've recently started a fantasy + sci-fi roleplay with bags of worldbuilding/character dev potential that may be your thing. Link here if you wanna check it out; we'd love to have you

roleplayerguild.com/topics/189457-the…

Hello there, I'm Duckie ♥ !

Welcome to the Guild, @Duckie! What kinds of RPs do you enjoy? Anything in particular?

Howdy

Welcome to the Guild, @ORXC! What sort of RPs do you like?