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[img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/190827/47e61da6aa6d00d862bc7e8911d6abe7.png[/img]

[sub][color=C88929][i]"To be the first to enter the cosmos, to engage, single-handed, in an unprecedented duel with nature—could one dream of anything more?"[/i][/color][/sub]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr_HIrfr7is[/youtube]

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[color=Silver]	Fresh...fresh air? Rahul wandered down the corridor as instructed by the medical staff. Atlas itself felt cold, colder than ever before. Blackened by the starstruck awe of the awakening, he was left to his own devices to recover his physical strength in his legs once more. The slumber of seven centuries had taken its toll, forcing the technician to stumble down the simulation corridor. Everyone [i]had[/i] to take this walk when they woke up out of cryogenics. A dark, screen-lit walkway that was surrounded by holographic screens three-hundred and sixty degrees around them. Circumnavigating their catwalk, everyone had to take the [b]walk[/b] as it acted like a symbolic pasture of Andromeda's new inhabitants. These tunnels were more or less a masterpiece of information, providing information to the regular eye on the happenings of the Atlas' journey into the Andromeda Galaxy, informing the public on what needed to be said. Still dazed in the eye, Rahul looked upwards to the screen surrounding the tunnel, watching the lights and pixels flicker on in a tremendous gaze of nightly illumination. Shielding his eyes for a second only dampened the intense luminosity for a moment before he went back to the general gawping of the recently awoken man. Intoxication of the unknown, it was what drew every man, woman and other creature onto the frontier of this uncharted alignment of stars, systems and anomalies yet untold. Rahul coughed, staring at the now holographic image of the starlit sky around him.[/color]

[color=Orange][b]"Where were you [i]before[/i] you knew you existed?"[/b][/color] [color=Silver]The ever familiar tone of the guiding voice that led millions to Andromeda spoke out over the speaker. [url=https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ab/31/b4/ab31b4a1a0ca4d097b31699668c9cdd5.jpg]Dr. Arthur Henderson[/url], PhD in Astronomical Exploration; founder and beacon of the Andromeda Project as everyone knew it. The name had garnered too much fame and notoriety over the course of the years preceding lift-off, and yet it always felt so familiar, familial and father-like to some. Even without the face known to many, if anyone, around him he held the hands of humanity in the now proceeding alignment of Coalition History.[/color] [color=Orange][b]"Before any of us were aware, we were swabbled into the Milky Way, perhaps insignificant or unaware of the real purpose we all hold. Our duty, today, is to awaken and set the stage for what is to come. Welcome to Andromeda. This is where [i]you[/i] exist. Not back in the Milky Way, out here. We are 700 years into the present. Let's keep things as they are...hopeful!"[/b][/color]

[color=Silver]	The holographic material surrounding the catwalk vanished and dimmed, before whitening into a luminous floodlight that brightened the room. The hallway was now clearly visible, as was Rahul himself. He looked down at his hands, feeling a surge of strength in his legs as he continued to take his first steps in another galaxy. The floor felt cold and rough, yet comforting and almost welcoming. Rahul's eyes picked up the fact that he was of course still naked, straight out of the cryogenics sleeping cells. As he trudged along, letting his natural body waltz gently through the brightened tunnel, he emerged at the exist in a singular dressing room, showing basic fatigues personalised and retrofitted around his prior choice before the initial departure. He smiled, letting his hand encase itself within the sleeves of the underlining jacket. Seven hundred years it'd been since he felt that enticing comfort. Mustering the courage to calm his nerves, Rahul dressed himself slowly, covering up his naked awakening body as the first journey was afoot. He had no idea what was going on, but Rahul was only a Class 3 Participant of the Andromeda Project, so his priority was limited to when things were settled. Surely things were pretty good, and established into a loving and warming environment for him to be awoken as such. It must've been.

[centre][i]And yet, Rahul was very wrong.[/i][/centre][/color]
[color=970195][b]"Mr Barrette, hello!"[/b][/color] [color=Silver]A far less recognisable voice suddenly filled the dressing room he'd wandered into. If it weren't for the majority of the clothing already plastered over his body, he'd have hidden behind any form of curtain to hide the vulnerability of his exposed self. Defensively, Rahul scanned the area, before a second door began to open slightly at the other end of the room. Stood lax, leaning against the frame of the sliding door, a Rateian woman smirked and stared at him with the upmost intrigue. No...wait...it wasn't intrigue, it was more a yearning to introduce and tell him something.[/color]

[color=2ECAAC][b]"Uhm...hello?"[/b][/color] [color=Silver]An awkward silence flooded the room whilst he put on the final parts of his dutiful clothing, clearing his throat and waiting eagerly for the Rateian to say something. She wasn't particularly tall, but she was rather elegantly dressed, even for her duty-attire. Her paler skin was a testament to her brightening eagerness to inform Rahul of...[i]something[/i]? What was she doing there? Rahul took a slow step forward, clearing his throat yet again before standing even more awkwardly before her.[/color] [color=2ECAAC][b]"Can...I help you?"[/b][/color]

[color=970195][b]"Oh, uhh...sorry. I blanked out. Do that a lot."[/b][/color] [color=Silver]Her witty smirk was met only with a thrust of the hand, gesturing a straightforward handshake right form the get-go. As charming as it was, Rahul was very confused. Procedures mentioned that a potential AI or something more orderly would open them up with a brief introduction before they were set to their induction duties, settling into the new galaxy as they saw fit. Well...apparently this wasn't the case.[/color] [color=970195][b]"Oh, uhh. Right, so would you like to come with me for a while, we're heading away to go work together. Well, I think. Someone hasn't exactly kept me in the loop too much but-"[/b][/color]

[color=2ECAAC][b]"Woah, slow down please! I woke up like...fifty minutes ago, I'm not used to hearing this rambling. Can you please explain to me what you're on about?"[/b][/color]

[color=Silver]	And just like that, his ears were showered with the knowledge of a cursed fate. The Rateian communications officer wandered before him, holding out a tac-pad she'd been given not too long after she was awaken supposedly. On it read some rather crude details, none of which made sense. Reports and saved data logs recognising and highlighting system failures in certain cryogenic bays made him feel queasy as he wandered the now open expanses of the Atlas decks. Where they were was packed with bustling and outrageously busy individuals, throwing orders to one another either over radio or via the shouting of their own booming voices. Rahul was just confused, entirely. What was happening? Why was he wandering around with this Rateian girl who seemed to have only the slightest clue as to where they were heading at that moment. Hal returned his gaze back down to the pad, looking through the logs.

	For a while, he fumbled with the data presented before him. One caught his eye: The Traveller Dismissal. Lists of detailed ships already sent out two months ago, supposedly, were highlighted in the news outliers. Rahul was showered in the grace of their imagery, showing the URV ships in their entirety. Masking themselves in glory, the ships were a guiding beacon of the sorts. Whilst the officers and leaders of the Project administered the Atlas and kept the project in its checks, the Travellers were apparently the forefront of the entire exploration nature at hand. The last ship had departed two months prior. The URV-Howitzer. Out it went, into the nightly skies with the intent to find [i]something[/i] for everyone. Its vague writing in the data-pad made Rahul's throat tighten. Why was there no real progress written down upon the pad? For a while, he began to feel an innate weakness in his legs, as if he were about to pass out from worry. Stumbling against the floor, the Rateian quickly turned around and picked him up quickly, as if to scold him.[/color]

[color=970195][b]"Hey! None of that, Barrette...We gotta get you up, ship and ready!"[/b][/color] [color=Silver]Rahul met her eyes with a confused and almost dumbstruck glare. What was she on about? Ship and ready?[/color] [color=970195][b]"Uhm...oh right, uh. Yeah I hope you like flying, apparently we're being called for an emergency, can't tell specifics because no one has told me, but they want us to arrive at the docking yard of the URV-Monolith, I think. It's not far from here apparently, just a few miles of walking and a lift or two. You okay with that?"[/b][/color]

[color=2ECAAC][b]"I'm sorry, what the fuck are you on about?"[/b][/color] [color=Silver]Rahul said, rubbing his forehead with a strange distaste for what she was vaguely hinting towards. This was happening all too fast. He'd woken up, dressed himself and now was being taken to a place he wasn't aware of whilst some random Rateian girl ranted about gibberish he didn't understand.[/color]

[color=970195][b]"Oi, watch that tone with me!"[/b][/color]

[color=2ECAAC][b]"Uhh...wait, sorry. I'm...confused a lot, could you please clarify on what you're talking about?"[/b][/color] [color=Silver]And just like that, she simply shook her head and shrugged her shoulders silently, walking on without waiting for him to recover from his slight collapse. Rahul cursed beneath his breath as he gasped for more air, taking the returning steps onto his feet and following suit. She was fast for her pacing, even early on. Perhaps she was awoken far earlier than he was. More or less, who exactly [i]was[/i] she? She was not part of his department of course, as they'd never met. Wandering forward, Rahul was left on a journey.

	A small group of people were beginning to form around the dockyard when Rahul eventually arrived. There was silence, a lot of it. No one really uttered any words at first, but instead stood facing the Monolith. The ship was [i]there[/i], right up close before them. Rahul hadn't expected to be shown it this early on, but he let his gawping mouth gape open as it did, watching its graceful stationary docking as if it were more than just a high-tech ship. On the inside, Rahul hoped to be able to go inside and check all of the things to find, little did he know that he was due to be boarding it anyway.[/color]

[color=Orange][b]"Edalyt, you're here."[/b][/color] [color=Silver]Breaking the silence, a man dressed in familiar, basic navigation fatigues wandered out of the group towards the Rateian guiding Rahul forward, stopping the two in a neatly fashion with a formal handshake and a firm grip. As Hal took a few seconds to eye him up, the young and well-kept individual seemed just that more happy to be introducing himself to new people. It was almost as if they were going to be working together for life...or something.[/color] [color=Orange][b]"Introduced yourself to this young man? Chief Technician, I presume?"[/b][/color]

[color=2ECAAC][b]"Uh, no I'm just a Class-3 Technical Officer. Sorry, but hello. Rahul Barrette, here to...do whatever, I guess?"[/b][/color] [color=Silver]He froze, seeing the Rateian and Navigator stare at him with the kind of look that you'd get when telling a joke. A few seconds passed, and they soon realised Rahul wasn't joking. Entirely misled by the lack of a briefing, he turned to them with a confusing look.[/color] [color=2ECAAC][b]"Uhh...what is it?"[/b][/color]

[color=Orange][b]"You did brief the guy, didn't you, Leora?"[/b][/color]

[color=970195][b]"What...oh...fuck."[/b][/color]

[color=Silver]	And as soon as one of them opened their mouths a second time, finally opening up an explanation unlike any other, Rahul found himself stumbling back onto the ground with a light head. Fuck. That was the only word that came to mind, thinking this was some sort of strange joke that had gone over his head. It wasn't. And the next hour was spent talking to Rahul, convincing him that something here was not like what he expected. Welcome to Andromeda then...in some way.[/color]