Work Text:
Outside of the ruling powers of each planet; of each system, you carried the most pull of any singular sailor. Well, the term sailor was outdated at this point, but it was an homage to the original explorers. You? You are an explorer of depths beyond what they could comprehend- of distances they could never reach in their lifetimes. It was no longer the future, it was the epitome of travel and exploration. Humans had reached the stars and beyond… And you?
You were bored.
Pirates no longer scared you, you had a vast array of weaponry and allies who would respond with a ferocious speed if you needed them. You pulled favors for powerful people, and they pulled favors back for you. You had dirt on almost every major politician on every port, knew the insides and out. You could bribe your way out of any situation you found yourself in legally and it STILL wouldn’t put a dent in your stash, your hoard of AUEC. Money, you told yourself, had made Earth go around and sent humans to the stars. Call it any other name, but he who held the most had the power.
You wouldn’t say you were the richest person in the system, but you certainly could hand out 890 Jumps like they were candy on Halloween, a long forgotten holiday in the vast expanse of space, but one still celebrated on Earth and many of the human colonies. Something about tradition, you assumed. Not for you, you were born off-planet and most who shared your bloodline were either dead or assumed you were dead. Your name was long forgotten on their lips and it never bothered you. You weren’t meant to be remembered, you thought, but you sure made a hell of a name for yourself. It’s not like you tried to or did any of it for fame or fortune, they just hailed you as an exploratory hero for some reason.
But all of this brings you to today; to your next adventure. You had a hearty crew on your 890 Jump, a ship that was never meant to be a one man establishment, but more of the cruise liner of space, though much like those on Earth they were always building larger and more luxurious. You just saw no point in investing in the supposed prosperity that having what was essentially a mini space port that could move slower than… well you didn’t know what. It was a waste of time in your eyes, as all your personal collection were upgraded to be some of the fastest without being record breaking. You just wanted to get where you were going quickly so you wouldn’t get bored of the trip before you reached your destination, whatever it may be. Your crew was vast at one point, but many doubted your sanity or your purpose. The number had dwindled to just enough to keep your ship running. One engineer, one gunner for the main turret you had added on special, and your navigator who willingly ran comms when you weren’t on the bridge.
This was one such instance. You were relaxing in your room that wasn’t quite a captain’s cabin but also not just a shared bunk. You never cared for the luxury of having such a large room all to yourself but the manufacturer refused to re-purpose it structurally based on integrity or some bullshit like that. So you physically re-purposed it yourself into extra storage by adding shelves and other commodities. On display were relics- artefacts of places you had gone. Some could have been a literal artifact, some were as simple as a rock that you slapped a label on and stuck it on a shelf. Not that you needed to remember your adventures this way, but a therapist a while back suggested it so you’re still trying it, curious of the value of such a collection and the way it could clear your mind to look at it. But you were staring at the walls of your cabin, lost in the nothingness of the human mind when your comms flashed on your wall- a short request to come to the bridge from your navigator. It was your request that he simply send you a message instead of calling you anytime he needed you, as you weren’t always the chatty type. Mulling over the importance for a moment, you rousted yourself from your bed to make your way up to the bridge, a walk that seemed longer each time you had to make it. Were you getting lazy, or was the ship just far too big for you? Or maybe your older age was catching up to you and telling you to settle down with the adve- never. Dash the thought away.
The hiss of the door brought you back to percieved reality as you stepped into the bridge, thankful that the visual shades were drawn as jump sickness was a nightmare to deal with having the large windows here. Your navigator spoiled you with that option- while he was used to the feeling and the sight of the stars passing at beyond mach speeds, you never could get used tol it. You stepped to the control panel to see why he called you there- a distress signal. The relay flashed across the panel with no particular name or source to it.
“It’s not pirates- they have no reason to be out this far. There’s no political control and the nearest port is beyond measure.” he said, already answering your first question.
Because sure, you hadn’t heard that before from him. You rolled your eyes.
“Mute day? Shall we check it out? You do have a fighter strapped in so I think we can handle what it may be.”
You looked at him incredulously, in all the years you’ve known him he’s barely been wrong, so you were always betting on his opinion, no matter how out there it would be. And yet, he returned your look with one of confidence, a smile crinkling at the edges of his eyes that assured you more than any words could. You nod to him.
“Aye, I’ll take us out of jump. Go get suited up.” his hands flew over the controls, that was his job. Make the trip as smooth as possible for all on board.
You snorted, giving him a dismissive wave as you headed back out of the bridge to the lower decks, down to the belly of the ship where your cargo bay was. While its primary purpose wasn’t carrying another ship or a rover of some kind (as the representative had OH SO politely explained when you bought it as if you gave a rat’s ass and didn’t find someone to reinforce the hull the next day), you were always prepared with a single seated fighter. Quick and light, running this configuration your goal was to run a hopefully non fatal distraction while the rest of the crew got away. You may not have cared what happened to you (a fact of which you made very clear the first time you had to deploy that plan), but you did care about your crew. They had become sort of a family to you.
Paused in the airlock a moment to think, you pulled on your flight suit. The technology had improved greatly over the years to what many folks had in their closets now, but yours went beyond. It practically had its own ecosystem, if you could call it that. No matter, because as the helmet clicked in place you initiated the airlock system- another safety feature that came default that you improved upon for your purposes. The manufacturer technicians wished they could do the things you do to their ships.
The airlock cycles open, revealing your fighter that was near swamped by the size of the bay. It was a practiced motion as you strode over to it and climbed up to the cockpit, running through the startup procedures as your navigator filled your video commlink with his voice.
“Cap we’re out of jump- you might want to hear this… Er, read it? I don’t know what’s going on, really.”
He went silent, followed by something… something you can’t believe you’d ever heard before. Sure, you heard pre-recorded distress messages before but none sounded so… robotic. Lifeless.
Hello World. Hello- H- H- H- H- H-World
Odd. Your brows furrowed as your controls flashed to life.
“Strangest thing I’ve heard, and we’ve been ready. All strapped in?”
You nodded, thankful for the video capture that was extremely useful when you felt mute- not that you didn’t want to speak but more that you couldn’t. Your navigator was the only one to put up with that on the daily, and he defended you any time the crew got rowdy. Something about diagnosis in the older days, inherited genes yadda yadda.
“Aye cap, stay frosty out there, you know I won’t be far behind if ya need me.”
Another protocol the two of you compromised on. His fighter lay mostly unused, strung up in the bay idle so it wouldn’t get tossed into the void every time the doors opened. Only released in a true emergency. You mulled it over in your head- he activates a special jump protocol and joins you out in the field while your ship becomes an escape vessel for those still on board. The ones that still held some kind of future outside of wandering space eternal. It was an auto pilot feature with a custom failsafe that he programmed into the systems, so that it couldn’t be overridden by the engineer. A biolock or something he explained many years ago.
H E L L O W O R L D
HELLO
HELLOWORLD
There it was again, the jarring sense of unknown flashing across your screen. Odd for a signal to send such a broken message. The cargo bay doors opened into the vast nothingness dotted by light that was thousands of years old by this point and gone in a flash. There was no sound, but your thrusters still roared to life as they pushed your fighter out of the belly of the cargo bay, injecting you into the void as your hands gripped the yoke.
“That message is still goin’ off, but we’re right nearby. It ain’t too far from ya now kid.”
That old man always called you kid. He was your senior, sure, but it had been a long time since you were a child gazing out of the viewports at the stars beyond. Eyes filled with curiosity and wonder that were not sated by staring. And yet here you were today, piloting your fighter with ease to a mysterious cry.
HELLO WORLD
G//IV///E
ANSWER
DO
The text would have been fine on its own if not for the robotic voice that punctuated each sentence with a growing frenzy- a glitch of some kind you assumed. It was eerie, almost as eerie as the blackness that surrounded you as more and more stars flickered out in the distance. It was a regular occurrence when you were this far out.
“Bit more cap, I’m runnin scans but there’s a lot of interference, I dont-” he was cut off. Static filled the connection and for the first time panic may have formed in the back of you mind.
Protocol. What was protocol? You shook your head and took a breath. You had about twenty minutes before he came to search for you in his fighter, so you had to focus on finding- There it was. You drifted closer to the structure, thrusters on low so you didn’t overshoot it. To you, it looked like the remnants of a freighter. This far out? Or maybe it was thrown out of jump to the next system somehow. You tried to run a quick scan but there was interference. It was all bouncing off of… what? There was no debris field- quite possibly picked over years ago.
hELLO wORLD
HELLOWORLD
You cut off your open comms but it still streaked across your screen. What the hells did you find? And why wasn’t it found sooner by any other agency besides you? Nevermind, there was a timer, you were down to eighteen minutes before your navigator launched himself out to try to save you- and if he couldn’t in five, he would be gone, guiding the rest of the crew out and away from whatever danger you had found.
Giving your thrusters a bit more power, you searched for a decent place for you to… well to tether your fighter to so you could feasibly get out and figure out what was going on, why was such a decrepit wreck still signalling? And for what? As you got closer to the remains, a chill went up your spine- an odd feeling for a seasoned adventurer like yourself
HELLOWORLDHELLOWORLDHELLOWORLD
hELP
ANSWER
Fuck. This almost made you want to turn around- fifteen minutes. You found what seemed sturdy enough to hook onto and keep your fighter from drifting away. At one point it may have carried a docking bridge, or even an entire bay, but now? You just stared at the remnants as you tethered yourself to it, giving the line a quick but firm tug by engaging backwards thrust before allowing your fighter to settle on the surface. You were certain you navigator had his eyes trained on you as you were still within visual distance of the cruiser. No doubt he was biting his fingernails or chewing the hell out of his lip. Waiting. Watching for any signal. You rolled your eyes and unstrapped yourself to head to the backend of the fighter. Contrary to popular belief, they were big enough that you did not need an archaic exit from a cockpit, and you had a small airlock. One door closed behind you and the other in front opened.
The view before you would have been exhilarating if not for the constant punctuation across your comms.
Hello World.
Over and over again enough to drive anyone mad (as if you weren’t already), but the view otherwise before you was breathtaking. You’ll admit you were some kind of crazy as you started your untethered float to what was once a hallway, powered by personal thrusters that kept you from overshooting and drifting off into the vast expanse around you. The silence could be earth shattering, you mused, taking it all in until your boots met the metal of the ship with a thud that was felt in your knees as the magnets engaged. Much better, because while you were a daredevil, you still had a certain respect and craving for solid ground.
Twelve minutes. You cursed, as that would not be enough time to get to the true bottom of it, but enough to find a terminal of some kind and download logs. Maybe even a crew manifest so you could try to find out what happened, or at least turn it into someone who would care enough to. You adjusted the force on your boots so you could walk a bit easier, lifting foot by foot- spacewalking was an art akin to running in the ocean. Similar mechanics, as most military forces train in deepwater pools to prepare for the techniques used in space albeit rarely as spacewalks were prohibited for most ranks.
Striding deeper into the hallway, you flicked on the built in light on your suit so you could see better. There seemed to be no power anywhere, not even the red emergency lights. They must have lost power long before you had gotten there.
HELLOWORLDHELLOWORLDHELLOWORLD
HELL-WORLD-WO-HELL-HELP
By the stars that was getting annoying. You kept your head on a swivel back and forth as you searched for a terminal you could quickly download from and get the hell out- maybe even try to shut off the signal so no one else would come across it. As you kept walking, you pondered how anyone could navigate freighters like this, everything was so square and symmetrical…
HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO
The message got faster the further you walked until you found… A bridge? Or what seemed like it. You’ve never really set foot in a freighter before, nonetheless a ship this old in general. You didn’t have much time before your navigator joined you- hurry up. The clustering of instrument panels gave you a decent idea of yes, this was indeed a bridge. You worked quickly to disassemble what looked like the main one- the one most likely to contain the data you were looking for. You never actually downloaded such information on site, you always took the hardware with you to examine it later. This site gave you the creeps anyway, so you wanted in and out. Fast.
HELLO.
WORLD.
The intensity of the message grew as you continued to fiddle, finally pulling out the bits that contained the data- Five minutes. Shit. If you gave your magnets less power you could sprint back to your fighter before he launched. You straightened up from the console and turned back the hallway to be faced with a suit. Standing. The fuck?
HELLO
Step. It took a step. Oh fuck.
WORLD
Another step from the suit. Your eyes went wide with fear. The movements were clunky, as if it were a pre starflight robot in there. But you knew better. A robot didn’t need a suit. But you couldn’t tell what was in it, the visor was blacked. Blacker than the void of space somehow. It was slow to move, so you sidestepped it quickly, not turning your back to it as you adjusted the magnets even lighter. You wanted out of there. Genuine fear was in your body now and there was- did it…..?
HELLO
The suit turned- it was tracking you. Shit. fuck shit fuck. That was never good. You stared at it a moment too long when it began to move faster.. And faster… Fuck! It was running and you had to go. Shit.
You clutched the potential data in your hands tight as you sprinted down the hallway you came. Some of the floor crumbled under you- wait, space debris wasn’t supposed to decay. There was no air in space. It was a vacuum- focus! You weren’t used to running like this and your suit gave you pointed reminders as the other continued to give chase. The message had stopped but that didn’t make it any less terrifying. You took a chance to glance back and- yup. It was still chasing you. Zero minutes left- time was up and your navigator was launched to get you. Well shit, that’s a fighter you have to leave behind. There’s a protocol for that too.
Thankful for the oxygen in your suit, you kept running until the hall faced the open void. You had gained some distance with a few turns, but it was close behind you KNEW it. Fear-filled eyes scanned the void and, aha! There it was! The bright yellow fighter that belonged to your navigator. You looked behind you one more time as the suit rounded the last corner. Contemplating what would be better, you completely released the power on your magnets and kicked off, pushing yourself into space. It wasn’t the first time you’d done it and you knew the risks every time. Even with protocols in place, that didn’t make it any less risky than before.
You drifted as close to the fighter as you could before kicking on the thrusters as they had a low fuel capacity. You made sure you were in a controlled drift towards the fighter before glancing back- the suit had stopped. Thank fuck. Whatever was propelling it had either wasted whatever energy it had or had never figured out how to release itself from its bonds.
hELLO
HELLOWORLDHELLOWORLDHELLOWORLD
Did… Did it really turn back? The static crackled again as your comms were released back, your navigator filling your screen.
“Cap! By the gods above what the fuck happened- never mind that. Answer when we get you on solid ground.” The hologram of his head purveyed a motion that he was looking back and forth. “The fuck was that?”
Your brows furrowed as you turned back to look at his fighter, right on target. You let your thrusters propel you closer before you engaged the magnets again, attaching yourself in a kneeled position close to the viewport on the cockpit. You shook your head, the video relaying the motion to him.
“Ah. Unknown. Got it. What shall we do? Should we retrieve your wings?”
He kept a steady distance so you could survey the area… Wait… Where was your fighter? Was it… decayed? You peered as best you could to figure it out.
“The fuck am I seein…”
He sounded so unnerved, it didn’t help you in the least. It took everything in you, but there was a protocol for this. Or at least you made one. “Blow it.” you said, the first words you had spoken in literal days, no matter how hard your navigator had tried. “Annihilate everything.”
“Aye cap.” He showed no emotion, he was used to the rare occasions you would speak. While he was proud of you every time, he didn’t say it for fear of triggering the nonverbal again. “Let’s get back inside and I’ll drop some shit down, aye?”
“Yes.” you huddle up against the hull of the fighter to make yourself as small as possible so you don’t get knocked around as he docks it back in the cargo bay, only releasing the magnets once everything is secure. His bright yellow ship sat where yours once did, looking oh so small comparatively.
“Go rest, cap.” he said as he helped you down to solid framing. “We’ll get the rest taken care of.” we being him and the engineer- as well versed in explosives as she was. “Not a trace will be left of whatever the hell was out there and had you spooked.” He held out his hand for the hard data and you handed it to him. “I’ll have the cook bring somethin to ya to eat and somethin strong to numb ya. Ain’t seen you that scared in about a decade now.”
You nodded, letting him guide you in through the airlock and assist you dress down- he was always one that recovered easier from harrowing situations. Perhaps it was his military training in combination with his rescue experience. He was used to dealing with terror and panic around him, being the stoic stone that kept a relative calm.
“Thank you.” You gave him a small smile as he hung up your suit.
“Awh you’re makin me feel all mushy n shit Cap. Gwan now.” he made a shooing motion as the exterior door closed and the interior door opened, releasing you into the safety of your cruiser. You ran your fingers along the walls as you strode back to your cabin- you definitely weren’t sleeping tonight, and you sent off a written navigation request to get to the nearest planetside colony. You needed some time on solid ground, out of the void. A grounding, if you will.
A ping across your screen when you entered your room offered a confirmation that your request was received and to get the hell to bed. He’ll see you in a day cycle or so. You flopped down onto your bed and stared at the blank ceiling above you- cursing that you had nothing to focus on. There was no sleep tonight. Not for a long time.