Part 1: The Never-ending Night

As the human ship was preparing for FTL, Jacob recieved the coordinates that Discovery was heading to. Even though the probe was supposed to be sucked into FTL with the ship, Jacob wasn't going to take any chances, plus he wanted to follow the human ship to see what the humans would do.

"Well," Jacob said, "here we go."

Next day... James Cannon was already crossing his ship up and down, left to right, back to front... It was like they gave him a new toy! Sure, she was still docked with the Sparta and FTL was still inoperative, but who cares? "It's my ship and she will be the best one in the whole fleet... At least for me!" Was Captain Cannon thinking...

Engineering was using the data colected during the flight made by the Discovery to calibrate their newly assembled Phase Jump Drive... The Chief-Engineer assured Cannon that "This ship should be ready to launch tomorrow morning...".

Although the Discovery would made the first journey to Alpha A, a planet around 4.37 light years from the Sol Sistem... But we would make a lot bigger journey in almost the same time... we would go to Betelgeuse, a star around 90 light years away from here... How? Using a so called Phase Lane, which would increase the speed about 12 times more... It's like an highway for Phase Space... There, we should test the Subspace Communicator on extreme long ranges... if we run into trouble... we will be pretty alone...

And, if everything went well... in two days we should be underway... great...

A big bird of prey was hovering above a small highway stop in the middle of the desert. the place was completely occupied with two black semi trucks and numerous other black cars and motorbikes around it. The occupants were sleeping in the small hostel along the highway, while the bird passed away the hours with catching some mice and scaring one human who went out for a wee with a feigned attack on his head.

In the morning the people of the convoy got in their vehicles again and they started moving again. the route went south-east for some hours until it started bending east. it was almost evening again when they arrived at their destination: Cape Canaveral.

An Ares launch vehicle was waiting at the launch pad without the top attached yet. Several cranes around it were waiting to pick up that last module and mount it on the rocket, it seemed. The bird slowly descended and perched on one of the cranes, waiting for more action and contemplating what do to.

Cannon was sitting on his chair... "So confortable... " was he thinking "They did a great work on my command chair..." he then pushed a button and said:

"Sparta control, this is Freedom... We request clearance to launch..."

"Clearance granted, release protocol initiated..." Said the dock control.

The clamps started separating from the ship... In 10 seconds the ship was trully on it's on, maneuvering with it's secundary thrusters... The Ion Thrusters light up a few seconds later, steering the ship away from the shipyard...

"Sparta Control, we're going to FTL... thank you for your time..." Said Cannon

"Ok, Freedom... nice to have you docked... Have a safe journey!"

"We'll have, thank you..."

Cannon turns to helm...

"Magnetize plating, engadge Phase drives"

"Aye, sir..."

The Freedom then powered up its Phase Jump drives... A sea green cloud appeared in front of the ship... a few seconds later, it occupied the whole bridge view... Then, it was transformed into thousand of particles originating from the front edge of the ship, running to the back end, and spreading to the infinity, while the ship was advancing at an enourmous speed...

"14 days till destination..."

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OOC: Imagine Phase Jump a little bit like SGU's Destiny's FTL.

wait, hold on, im confuse already, what happened to the discovery, we only have one ship at the moment and i thought i posted it would take like 3 days instead of 2 weeks, please clear this up for me.

As Jacob was dawdling about in slipspace, he recounted the new events.

Jacob had entered slipspace 5 minutes after Discovery, even though with word from his second probe still with Earth\'s spacestation that there might have been a second ship.

Well if there was a second ship, this one still has top priority.
(edited because Jacob now has Discovery as his top priority)

....ummm...ok? this doesn't make sense with the RP though. It's more logical for us to have one ship only, the Discovery, which cannon could be the commander of and is carrying Devon and the other troops to Alpha A. Let's stick with tht for simplicity and logic sake

The Zeraila kept an eye on their crashed probe, but lost contact with it as they entered their own system again, landing on the nearest space station. The crew disembarked and parted ways, promising each other that they will meet again. Sadow left with Zeranthos, heading towards the palace to report his findings and discovery. He smiled too, promising Zeranthos a date for tomorrow, to one of the local relics of the Aerelian race. She had readily agreed, for more than one reason, which Sadow had no clue as to what those were.



"High Queen, we have returned. The 'humans' are capable of slight FTL travel, apparently using old out-dated tech. We've also left our message, hoping they will find it." Sadow explained, bowing low. The Queen nodded and told them to leave so she could think. Sadow escorted Zeranthos to her house, and went on his way to his, hoping to get a good night's sleep.

We already had seven ships built, but only one had FTL enabled... the others were waiting for the result of those to start calibrating the FTL drives... You should have looked up a bit better... and indeed... It seems like two weeks passed on RP while here only passed 3 days...

ummm, you do know this takes plac present day, so aside from our typical shuttlecraft, no, we have one ship

(i'm assuming it happens anywhere in the next 20 years or so, so i'm using the Ares launch vehicle as shuttlecraft)

The bird got startled when the intercom system shouted all over the whole base.
"Attention all personnel. Get ready for the launch of the Argus module in ten minutes." The cranes started moving. One of the trucks was opened to reveal a large hight tech blunt-cone scanning device. Two cranes picked it up and slowly positioned it on top of the launch vehicle.

She reasoned fast. The Argus system! she had heard about that before iback in Rachel. It was rumoured to be some kind of long range deep-space scanning device which could reach even farther than fifty lightyears by using some kind of FTL technology. It was time for action, but mostly also to get the hell out of there.

She flew up and coasted down towards the launch bunkers. As soon as she knew she was totally out of sight of any of the cameras she changed. Wings became paws again and the feathers of the tail slowly morphed into a long, naked tail. Several instants later a mouse was scurrying around looking for some food. When she had finished nibbling on some fruits and grains she slipped past a member of the personal who was taking cover too and entered the bunker.

Almost impossible to see in the obscure gangways of the complex she scurried towards the control center. Of all the sensors and security systems in the area not a single one took note of the major alien security breach that was happening, after all, she was not an alien. She was a simple mouse, Mus Musculus of the order of Rodentia. Her genes were completely conform the genes of the mouse she ate several days ago, and to detect she was not just a mouse was impossible.

She would just have bitten a member of the personnel to get in, but her behavior and her general lack of knowledge of the human space faring procedures would immediately betray her. Just a minute before launch she was sitting under a desk in the control room watching the happening.

Ok, let's make it that way... If you're willing to edit/delete posts, go ahead... I was assuming it happened a hundred years away from here...

--------------------
"Captain Personal Log, Earth Date: 06-12-2009, 19:51 GMT...

The ship was running fine for the last few days... Aside from crew stress and stuff... The marines on board the ship were a little "agitated", not to say more... In the other day one of them started a braw with a crewman, just because the crewman hitted his uniforme with a spark from the work he was preforming... Luckly we have our own security team, and aren't dependent of those guys...

On another words, the ship's crew it's working at its full potential... And the Discovery it's behaving pretty well... The other day we passed by a rogue planet, and jumped out of FTL just to make a few scans... needless to say, it was a frozen rock...

Anyway, we're back on route and have two days in front of us before arriving to Alpha A... What are we gonna find there? We must wait to find out...

End log..."

Sadow woke up, groggy from last night. He didn't know what had transpired last night, as he had consumed a good amount of Aerelian wine. The night had went well, he remembered that. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and sniffed the air. Someone was cooking food, and it made his stomach growl. He stood up, stretching, and walked into the dining area, and stood there in shock as he saw Zeranthos in his kitchen.

"What are you doing Zera?" Sadow asked, using the name everyone called her, being off duty now.

"Well, last night, we both went a bit overboard, you so more than me. I decided to take you home. Since I woke up before you did, I decided to cook breakfeast." Zera replied, occupied by the food in front of her. "Thanks for the date though."

"Thanks.." Sadow went over to his computer, and started tapping away. In a few seconds he had what he needed. "We're going on another mission. Zeraila was outfitted with the latest modifications, and is now up-to-date again. I still don't have a 1st officer.. Would you want the job Zera? We have another canidate for tactical."

"I'd be honoured." Zera said as she finished up breakfeast. They ate in relative silence, ready to go on yet another mission.

Cpt Kirk! FTW!

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The Discovery was drilling a seagreen hole in a dark sea... The exotic green/blue particles were flying by the aerodinamic structure of the ship like if it was sand hitting a car when the wind is strong...

In the menwhile, the crew was busy mantaining the ship, the marines busy training, and the Ship's Captain was chatting with the Marines Commander...

"So, how are we doing?" Asked the Marine CO

"Pretty well... this ship is just working wonderfull... In the last three days, we've made 3.2 light years..."

"How much time do we have?"

"About one more day..."

"So, it better we start making a plan..."

"Yeah"

Devon sat in his cabin watching the stars fly by the window. It was awe-inspiring to be in the deepness of space, yet traveling like it was just an ordinary day in the park. Cannon had come over the PA a while ago announcing less then a day's travel was left. The marines were still awaiting final orders.

The Zeraila was refueled and ready to go, as Sadow and Zera walked onto the bridge, Zera taking her spot in the 1st officers chair. Sadow nodded to the new tactical officer, an Ensign Pretrykov, and Zeraila took off, heading towards the last known location of the humans first attempt at a FTL ship.

(@JPB: ah, so i was NOT the only one who thought that.)

Symphona was watching the image on the screen of the long-range scanning device reaching orbit and deploying from the floor. The screen seemed huge to her from that little corner under the desk. Suddenly a common PhD data slave broke the silence of the room.

"Scanner deployed, commander. All systems operational."

Everywhere in the room sounded a sigh of relief. The addressed commander smiled and stroked his hair.

"Good work, people. I want a report showing the ship is on course and on schedule in one hour, and it would be nice to see if we can get in contact when going FTL. Otherwise..."
"Won't be necessary, sir. We've already found them."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes sir."

Sym's jaw dropped open. Now THAT was an interesting development. She though they'd never get around to it. Now this was were things would be getting fun. She quickly evacuated the room when the humans were still staring awestruck at the screen and left the building. Once outside she transformed back into her eagle form where she just sat there for a few minutes with a light and dizzy head. She hadn't been used to changing forms so much so fast the last years.

Devon felt a slight change in the G-forces. He got off his bed and headed for the bridge of the ship.

The bridge was a buzz with activity and Devon saw Cannon standing with hsi arms folded behind his back looking out of the viewscreen. In the distance, Devon could see it, a planet.

Jacob woke up to find out that his ship was about to exit slipspace.

He walked off the elevator onto the bridge. He sat down in one of the empty chairs and then waited for the screen to turn black again.

As the engines whirred back into normal speed, he saw to his dissatisfaction that his ship had exited on the other side of the system.

"Oh well...at least I won't be spotted."

Jacob engaged his ISD and cloaking equipment and set course for the other side of the sun. He noted something familiar in the sunspots but figured it was just his imagination. As his ship disengaged its ISD he recieved data from his probe. His probe had sent information about the system aswell as the human's activities.

Jacob got light hearted for a split second. The only rocky planet in the system was Delfak! Delfak was the Delkoni's creator's homeworld. He scanned Delfak to see if it's situation had changed any. Sadly it still couldn't sustain any major lifeforms. Jacob still bet that there were artifacts still on the planet's surface.

Jacob set course for Delfak immediatly. Luckly the Humans still hadn't sent any parties planetside. As Jacob's ship entered Delfak's remaining atmosphere he set course for the ruins of Lofel, the planets old capital. Jacob donned his light Biosuit and stepped planet side as his ship rested cloaked in a ravine south-west of the city.

"I have waited for the day I could explore Delfak. Oh what history I will uncover. If any luck, some creator or Delkoni equipment still works, but I doubt it."

Jacob Yaklin set off in a scout-rover as fast as he possibly could. With any luck the humans were still boarding their transports.

The Zeraila hovered over the planet, the team already on the planet.
"Well, the queen told us to meet the humans, and las reports said they would be on the planet soon. Spread out and keep communication silence." Sadow said, taking Zera with him as they took off, hoping to reach the drop point of the humans in time.

The Zeraila stayed cloaked, this time being being only detectable with a intensive sensor sweep. The auto-pilot was engaged with the weapons active, ready to disable any hostile ship.

As Jacob zipped through the suburbs, he tried to remember the last time he had been here. Back then it was full of life, creators zipping about, Delkonies keeping guard.... He remembered how the creators treated the Delkonies. Like they were meant just to serve. That's what they were created for wasn't it? Yet when you create something to have a mind of their own, you can't help but to think that they would soon rise up.

He tried to put the thoughts out of his mind. However foolish the creators might have been, they still were advanced far beyond the average civilization. As he got off at the ruins of what Jacob remembered to be some sort of university, he looked at a flash of yellowish-green. He found it out to be some type of plant. He smiled, so the planet was coming back from the brink of death afterall. He walked his way through broken down walls and cracked dirt. He was looking for something...an opening of some sort.

"Ah! There it is. Thankfully it hasn't caved in."

After he sifted through the debree, he walked down a dusty flight of stairs into a lobby, or what was a lobby. He wound around until he found an opening that still showed signs of light.

"After all these years, something is still working?"

The light turned out to be a hole in the ceiling, letting light shine in. Yet there was still stuff on the floor. Jacob could barely make out the remains of metal and plastic. What entrigued him the most was the plastic. He picked it up and dusted it of. He tried to send a volt of electricity through a metal hole in the plastic. What made Jacob jump was the fact that the plastic started to glow. Jacob quickly turned it of. He looked around the whole complex and found more of the plastic "books". Some worked, some needed to be worked on. Others were torn in two, hence they were unusable. As Jacob rose out of the ground he saw a ship floating down on the horizon. It looked like a human ship.

Jacob wanted to look through one more building before he left Lofel. That building was the capital building...and the memorial the creators made and left before they put the planet on an extinction route.

"How could we put them in that rock!" Kept Captain Cannon thinking... "That barren rock with 90% CO2, 2% O2 and 3% O3... Not to forget the also somewhat high methane concentrations and so on, but... they can hold the smell..."

Suddenly, a blonde women woke him up from his thoughts...

"Ei! Captain! Wake up! There's a report from our away team!" Said the XO...

"Oh, what?" Said I "Put it through..."

The comms appeared and badly the image showed up, Cannon said:

"So! What have you found in that barren rock?"

Devon spoke into his comm unit

"Absolutely nothing sir. We might as well have landed in one of the deserts back on earth. There's a terrible wind here though and very large mineral deposits. Unfortunately nothing useful, just common stuff like coal and dirt and more dirt. There do appear to be seem ruined structures about 10 Km out, we're heading there now and will report back in an hour. Communications are really bad though, so I wouldn't be surprised if we aren't able to make contact due to our range. I'm suspecting there's another mineral on this planet interfering with our comm units, but we have yet to find it. Straight out"

As Jacob got off his rover the first thing he saw was the memorial. It was a ten foot high, 5 by 5 foot wide, pillar of solid purified Diamond with beautiful black granite with the words emblazend with the rare mineral, aluminum. With the vast coal desposits on Delfak, the creators had enough coal and the technology to pressurize the coal into pure diamond. Jacob read the enscription that was the Delkoni's and creators language.

"This surviving pillar represents the glory of our technological civilization, but also the corruption and pride that has lead to our downfall. With this final marker to hopefully stand the test of time, hopefully our successors will be able to stand more steadfast than us."

Jacob now aware of a dust cloud coming on the horizon, knew that the humans were coming. Since he new that the humans didn't understand the creators' ancient language, he decided to translate it into the dirt. He used his laser sword to carve the words, and as best he could, drew pictures that best described that awful war. Although Jacob had only been in the sol sytstem for a week and a day, he had picked up alot of their culture so he was able to translate. He drew a voracious sun and ominous clouds that appeared to decimate the planet. He drew the planet as it came to be, a decilate wasteland. Then he drew what the planet seems to be turning into, a planet once agains able to suit life.

As he stood back and looked at his creation, he looked at the dust cloud, the humans were traveling faster than expected. Jacob ran into the ruins of the capital building. Once "inside" he began searching for the "Gand Blauch", the grand book. It was a book of great history that was sadly left on the planet. Not finding it, he began to fear the worst. But suddenly, he saw a feint glimmer. The ancient book, basically almost faded and torn, was 9/10 intact. He hefted the book and put it on his rover. The dust cloud was too close, Jacob could see the human vessel. No doubt, they should see Jacob. Hurringly he jumped onto his rover and drove off at high speeds to his ship, he didn't look back to see if anybody was following him.

"There!" Devon pointed as he lowered the binoculars.

"You're sure?" one of the other marines asked

"Positive, I definitely saw something run off, I couldn't tell what, probably an animal, but I dunno of any animals that would survive these conditions!"

"Well," the marine said, "we'll keep moving towards those ruins, by the looks of it, it'll be nightfall soon so we'd better cover as much ground as we can"