Fiction:Cyrannia's Legacy/The Eye of the Storm

Into the Unknown
Like countless others before him, Rufus Cornelius had longed to voyage among the stars. With no intention of binding himself to military service, and little interest in mere tourism, he worked instead to establish himself as a merchant, maintaining his own freighter rather than joining a Talven guild. Though he had been initially successful, the militarization of the in the late 2810s greatly hindered independent trade. Cornelius had been lucky enough to endure these hardships, but he often had to make do with minimal supplies, rarely having an opportunity to make repairs to his ship.

Given these circumstances, he thought to himself, his current predicament should have been easy to predict. His hyperdrive and navigational systems were damaged beyond repair, while his long-range communications systems were already unreliable. To make matters worse, his sensors indicated that the only nearby gravity well - which his freighter happened to hurtling towards at an excessive speed - originated from a cluster of black holes.

Cornelius was not one to surrender easily, however. With stubborn determination, he patched up the ship's central reactor, activating the backup generator to boost its output. Returning to the cockpit, he then diverted power from all non-essential systems to sheilds, before making his way to the inner-most storage room of the ship with as much supplies as he could bring with him. He sat down, and waited. Minutes passed, perhaps hours, before a low groan reverberated through the ship. He could hear the ship crumple and twist as it fell into a black hole. Then, silence. Checking that the air pressure beyond the storage room's door was stable, he cautiously proceeded outside, heading towards the cockpit.

The ship was still intact, though Cornelius doubted that he'd be able to return any time soon. Unfortunately, that gave him only a few hours before he was pulled back into through what was evidently a wormhole behind him. Running some quick scans, he tried to determine his location. The answer was not what he was expecting. If the ship's sensor's were still reliable, he was hadn't travelled through space, but time - at least a thousand years into the future. He wasn't able to contemplate this for long, however. Without warning, a massive ship dropped out of hyperspace. It was far more advanced than anything he had seen before, but the avian design was clearly Talven. He felt the freighter lurch as a tractor beam locked onto it, pulling him towards a huge hangar bay.

Stepping outside, Cornelius stared with fascination at the other ships within the hangar. They were dwarfed by the vessel surrounding them, but no less impressive. Several appeared to be cruisers, enveloped in swarms of maintainance drones. Thousands of fighters were neatly arranged around the hangar, in sturdy-looking racks that extended to the ceiling. A few were hovering nearby, as if preparing for him to attack. A line of thirteen heavily armed and armored figures, apparently Talva, approached him. The soldier in the centre, possibly a captain of some form, stepped in front of the others.


 * Captain: "You are trespassing in Talven space. You will surrender your weapons and cargo."

Something was unnerving about the captian's demeanor. Cornelius remained silent for a moment, gathering his confidence.


 * Cornelius: "Of course. I need to repair my ship so that I can leave."
 * Captain: "Your origin?"
 * Cornelius: "I came here through a wormhole. I'm a Talven citizen, from 2820 AD."

The captian took a few seconds to consider Cornelius's claim.


 * Captain: "You will follow me."

The finality of the order was enough to discourage Cornelius from responding. He was led through the hangar bay to a narrow corridor, empty save for a few soldiers guarding doors. The walls were beginning to rust, and several of the pipes surrounding them were leaking. Cornelius was certainly used to this state of disrepair, though that only made him more nervous. The group entered a turbolift, soon arriving at a similar passageway. As they proceeded onwards, He turned to the captian.


 * Cornelius: "What is this ship?"
 * "Captian": "Dreadnaught-class 2C. Designation 00372. Modified for border patrol with advanced sensors and communications arrays."
 * Cornelius: "I see... Do you serve the Talven Empire?"
 * Captain: "The Talven Empire was dissolved 196 standard years ago, following the cleansing of Iubar. We guard Talven space and await the return."
 * Cornelius: "The return?"
 * Captain: "Correct. The storm will purify all."

The captian's answers were troubling enough, but the choice of words concerned Cornelius even more. He was about to ask the captain to elaborate, when they came to an abrupt halt. The captain gestured towards a nearby door.


 * Captain: "You will stay here."

Cornelius stepped carefully inside. The room beyond was small and functional, occupied only with a single bed, covered with decaying sheets. Realizing the soldiers' intentions, Cornelius spun around.


 * Cornelius: "Wait-!"

The door slammed shut.