Fiction:The Shattering

Saved From Cataclysm
was able to outrun the power of the initial shockwave that erupted from the nightmarish dreadnought Khanjar and his fiction:The Brotherhood had constructed. The ship's lighting changed to an ominous deep read as alarms blared for action stations. As they travelled, their warp drive abruptly stopped, leaving them inside the alien nebula. As everyone ran about attending their stations, Arnas had called the senior officers over the intercom to the ship's briefing room. Khanjar was surely dead, perhaps Althron too, had vanished right before the vessel detonated.

There as an air of panic in the room as everyone settled down. Many were still trying ot comprehend the truth, that all this time they had been pawns of ; the chancellor of the, a veteren of the Great war for Andromeda and a voice in the ear of one of the most powerful figures in Andormedan politics. He had used them, exploited them for his own gain and discarded them when he no longer had use for them. All from the safety of the Imperium. N'rai was jabbering to herself in a rapid pace, twitching before raising her voice to draw attention to herself.

N'rai - ''Everything... lost. Just... look at it!''

N'rai pointed at a panoramic screen of the outside with her robotic hand, pointing at the twisted alien clouds circling in the space around the vessel. In her eyes was pure, unmistakable fear - as well as shame. Everything that was done there. Was their fault. The New Dawn's mission was to bring the galaxy to a new level, to raise it from darkness unto light. Instead, it ushered in the light of destruction. Arnas sat slumped in her captain's chair, sighing wearily was she stared into N'Rai's electronic eyes. Decieved by the lies of terrorists and corrupt chancellors, they now faced an apocalypse unlike any other. Beltharon pushed himself from the wall and shouted, causing N'rai to roll her eyes.

Beltharon - ...This is all Quendor's fault! N'rai - ''You're a genius, Beltharon. Surely victim blaming will end this cataclysm. We're doomed! Doomed!'' Beltharon - At least I'm doing something instead of moping! Tarsus - ''The Chancellor was the one who ordered us to recover the Artifacts. Baka'niju - Ahem, I would beg to disagree. - Baka'niju stood up, secretly smiling from beneath his helmet - ''It is not fact that we are doomed. There is a chance that someone accidentally put draxite into our food and this is all just a massive acid trip.'' Beltharon - ...Did you smuggle drugs onto the ship? Baka'niju - ''Ahem... it would go against honour... erm... - Baka'niju coughed - It is within the realm of possibility.'' Tarsus - ''This is indeed progressive. First we blame one person, now we have come to the conclusino we either have no hope or we are all under narcotic influence.'' N'rai - Fun.

Tiured of the arguing, Arnas took in a deep breath and stood up from her chair and bellowed a single word in a reverberating timbre, as if an echo escaped from the depths of her throat and out into the room.

Arnas - ENOUGH. N'rai - ...Ma'am.

Everyone's bickering stopped abruptly as Arnas shouted. N'rai, taken in surprise, turned to Arnas and saluted her while Beltharon glanced towards her and nodded, keeping himself quiet as, inside, he knew that he had no plan of action or suggestions to contribute towards the matter at their hands. He merely looked down, leaning against a wall.

Arnas - ''The least we can do now is warn the COmmonwealth of the coming cataclysm. The fact we have yet to be consumed by these nebulae suggests that we still have time before the shockwave reaches civilised space.'' Baka'niju - And what are we to do now? - Baka'niju turned his gaze to Arnas, looking at her with an inquisitive expression that she could not see - I do not believe my skills will be worth if I am not given a target to shoot. Tarsus - ''The captain's deduction is indeed sound. This shockwave will not consume the galaxy all at once.'' N'rai - ''Warning the Commonwealth... this could work, I believe. Provided that we manage to escape, of course...'' Beltharon - The Highlords are going to be pissed. N'rai - ''Surely they will be more fitting to deal with the problem! They have the resources, and-'' Tarsus - 'And what if the chancellor relays this information first?'' Quendor - ''And this won't matter. We'll just throw the galaxy into the tyranny of fear. Exactly the opportunity for our old friend the Chancellor to take the reins...''

Quendor appeared at the door looking rather smug. Everyone turned around to see him. N'rai tilted her head in curiosity at the Radeon officer as he walked in proudly.

N'rai - ''Quendor? That's... uncharacteristically calm and not-brutal-angry of you. Where have you been?'' Beltharon - Yeah, where have you been?! Arnas - We all wish to know. Quendor - ''In my room. Praying... and checking the ship data. You know what happened? We are all stated as KIA. I think we can guess who is responsible for this...'' N'rai - Vesperon... Beltheron - ''KIA? Hmph, well this certainly looks like some kind of Hell.'' Quendor - ''Exactly. To the rest of the galaxy, we're ghosts. The restless spirits who in their folly have opened the locket of the Demiurges and released the demons within. And you know what? I guess we really are dead. The sector... the innocents whose life we put at stake... Mother... our souls are gone. We are sinners, and tonight is the day for Purgatory.'' N'rai - ''Remind me; since when were you the one responsible for long overwrought and pathos-laden speeches? Last time we met, you were more concerned about slashing people's heads off.'' Beltharon - Geroniel... Quendor - ''I know. Seeing all this... destruction has given me... a new perspective.'' Beltharon - ''Oh yeah? Well this has given me yet another reason to be pissed off. I will have somebody's head for this!'' Tarsus - If you can get to him I imagine you'd be satisfied with planting a solid blow on the Imperial Chancellor. N'rai - ''Me first! I punch him in his arrogant gray snout, and you take the head.'' Beltharon - First, we need to find him. Tarsus - Quendor is not the only one of us to change, I do not recall you being this aggressive before, Nrai. N'rai - ''It's... true. I once thought this voyage would be an adventure, a chance to meet someone new... I was wrong. No. I won't let vengeance twist my soul. I won't.'' Quendor - ''It has twisted all of us, N'rai. We shall never be same... but our duty still stands. Once, we sought to bring hope and light to the galaxy. A new dawn. And by Dei'Nar, there WILL be a dawn!'' N'rai - ''Ooh, we have a new speech addict aboard. "Todeh, the enemeh is at our door!"'' Tarsus - ''Quendor is correct. We first met as crew, but we have energed from this incident as friends. I would not return to a university laborartoy after all this.'' Beltharon - Screw that, you do not know what I would give to be relaxing on a beach with a woman wrapped around my waist right now. N'rai - I second that nation. Tarsus rolled his eyes and let out a groan under his breath Arnas - Despite the fact that the two of you are dead according to galactic records? N'rai - Yes. Beltharon - I'm sure there are plenty of women who are into necrophilia. Tarsus - You may appreciate it but the knowledge that I am apparently dead means that my illuminate's credentials would be erased. Baka'niju - ''Excellent speech, first officer. I only see one problem.'' Quendor - And that is? Baka'niju - How do we get out of here?

Quendor's smug expression suddenly dissapeared, replaced with confusion and guilty admission. He stuttered fr a moment, making random gestures with his hands as if to find his thoughts.

Quendor - ...That I didn't really think about.

Quendor turned to Arnas.

Quendor - Captain?

Arnas looked about the room in contemplation. She herself was unsure what to do at this time, She kept quiet, struggling to speak. In her mind she was over her head; stranded out here in the depths of space with only her crew, little knowledge on how far this news had spread and an assumption that they were alone out here. It was at this point after she began stuttering that Tarsus stepped forward.

Tarsus - ''Sensors indicate that the destruction of the Artifacts has destroyed the local hyperspace fabric. Meaning that we cannot utilise our warp or transwarp drives.'' Beltharon - So we're practically a sitting duck? Quendor - ''Not exactly. That leaves us with hyperspace or using natural wormholes...'' Tarsus - Wormhole yes, Hyperspace...well there is none. Arnas - ''Wait...so hyperspace no longer eixsts? We cannot access it or use it?'' Tarsus - Within this region of space, yes. N'rai - ''Please, tell me this is an acid trip, 'Niju. PLEASE.''

Arnas cupped her snout in her palm and pressed it stressfully against her crest, groaning in frustration.

Arnas - Does the wormhole drive still work? Tarsus - '...perhaps. Quendor - Now, all we must do is to find a natural working wormhole... Tarsus - Gravitational sensors are still operational and we may have a wormhole on our star charts.'' Arnas - ''Then it is settled. We look for the nearest wormhole. Wherever it goes, we use it as a way to return to Commonwealth space.'' Beltharon - ''Lets hope we get lucky in that case. Wormholes could take us anywhere.'' Quendor - ''Excellent. Avast, my friends! The New Dawn awaits!''

Quendor shouted these words in an encouraging tone. Emboldened by his charisma, the rest of the sneior officers cheered alongside him. Frowns and worried looks were awkwardly replaced with smiles. A moment of morale-boosing concluded with everyone getting out of their chairs and leaving the room one by one to return ot their normal duties; Arnas and the bridge crew returned to the command chamber to prepare the crew's hunt for wormholes. Everyone except Quendor however, who remained behind. He wandered the room for a moment before descending his rear into the seat of one of the officer's chairs, its foam-like padding deforming and moulding itself to the contours of his back and legs, as if he were melting into its cushioned form. Spending a moment settling, he returned to his thoughts as he looked out of the panoramic screen.

Quendor - ''Huh. I was never understood, really. When I was in the fleet, I was called individualistic... rash... bloodthirsty. Against all things Divinarian. I was blind, so blind, and it took me this - this! - to understand what people had been trying to tell me long ago! Enough vengeance and hatred. From this day on, I shall be the hero of that story. I shall right the wrongs of my past... if I survive.''