Orion Steiner

Intergalactic Space Adventures --- ISA

As Xael queried on the arrival to Orion’s ship, his wrist transponder began to vibrate.

“We’re here”. He motioned to the crew to follow him to the cockpit. “Xael if you want to follow me you can pilot your ship into the docking bay. Ursa if you could bring Cel along with his goldenrod once you guys are done then we can get down to business.”

Xael entered the cockpit and sat down preparing to fly the ship followed shortly by Ursa and Cel. Everyone looked out the cockpit to a red expanse, lightning glowing behind plasma clouds in the distance. A large Grey asteroid floated in space In front of the ship.

Orion pressed Xael’ ships transmit button on the control panel. “Mad Dog one, Summoner over”. He sent the message across the airwaves seemingly to empty space. Xael’ ship floated around the massive asteroid eclipsing and exposing the light of a far off star. “Mad Dog One, this is summoner over”. Static filled the airwaves. The crew looked at Orion as if he was a little off kilter. He caught there stare. “Give them a second guys.” Again Orion keyed the button. “Mad Dog One, Summoner. I have the firestring particle”

Suddenly a crackling voice fills the air “Summoner, this is Mad Dog One. Glad to see you back, what happened to the Hurricane”. Orion replied, “Long story but she’s gone. Prep the docking bay for us, we’re coming in. We’ve got a lot to discuss and I’m with a party of three. Are you cloaked or just hiding?”. The voice responded “Just hiding sir, we’ve had issues with the shockwave system again. I’ll bring her up, and I’ll go grab Turok for you”.

The surface of the asteroid began to shake and move as the dirt and rocks began to slowly disperse in the low gravity, slowly the top of a large dropship Could be seen liftIng from within the asteroid itself. It rose on pulse jets pushing out the rocks that had entombed the ship from its purposeful slumber. The stardust glistened in the eclipsed light as the polarizing jets cast a bright blue hue over the front of the ship. The rear pods of the dropship once clear of the asteroid began to extend out and slowly rotate in a clockwise fashion. The giant white And metallic gray dropship was marred and had obviously seen combat recently, it was a large warship built and designed 200 years ago for assaulting planets. Using its massive drive engines to be able to land, drop off men or materials and escape gravity of most worlds. It had multiple weapons platforms for defending the drop site and did have some heavy weapons and anti fighter missile platforms for encounters in space.

Out of nowhere two twin beams from interceptor engines streaked past the Cockpit lighting up Orion. He crossed his arms and looked back to the crew.
“I give you, Ragnarok”

My Hider

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Intergalactic Space Adventures --- ISA

Ursa walked in on Orion attempting to digest the information he was able to pull from ACE. He had been figuring a way to describe exactly what they saw and it’s potential.

He saw Ursa in the entryway backLit by the white light from the corridor still with his bomber jacket On. He would have to get that back.

She described a situation that had developed with Cel.

“ACE, stay here and keep running scenarios. I’ll be back.” Directed Orion. He got up and walked out of the bay led by Ursa. Orion heard Cel comment about a “Golden Experience” thinking how weird those Yakuza really were. First R.Kelly and now this guys into being urinated on? They walked by the medbay noticing Xael and Cel And backtracked inside. He directed his gaze to Cel who seemed to be in a delirious state. “Maybe a sedative is in order? Is this a result of the gravity loss from back at Phobos?” Commented Orion. He looked at his chronograph “We shouldn’t be far Now from my dropship. On-board I have some advanced medtech that could make sense out of him.”

Orion shifted his gaze eyeing his jackets inner pocket That Ursa was wearing and said to her. “If the ships temps are to your liking I can take that back if you don’t need it anymore.” Trying to be as polite as he could be.

Intergalactic Space Adventures --- ISA

“The ship is on the other side of that” Orion pointing to the giant plasma cloud that flickered and shot out bursts of gaseous balls. “We don’t have to go through, but it will take a days travel to get around it. We still have to watch for asteroids and the occasional pirate lurking but I’m sure we will be fine”. Orion began to unhook ACE who definitely had seen better days and inputted a new set of coordinates into the ships . “If you all would excuse me, this will get us where we need, your autopilot can handle it but someone should keep watch in case we get jumped. If you need me I’ll be going through ACEs data and figuring out what just happened in your cargo bay.”

Orion followed slowly by ACE found the cargo bay and was able to find a spot in the rear secluded and dimly lit. He had ACE begin running through his diagnostics and spitting out problem after problem to him. He would need some techs to work on him once he got to his dropship. “I don’t have time for this” he whispered to himself. “ACE, I need something to take my mind off of all this data. Play me something She would like.” ACEs voice changed from a robotic and guttural sound to a seemingly prerecorded Feminine voice. “How about my favourite? I know you secretely like it”. Orion replied “That would be fine honey”. The aria began to play lightly in the background for a minute before the feminine recording chimed in “Do you want me to leave you alone to think Orion? It’s been awhile since we talked But I understand what your going through.” Orion speaking words as if he said them a million times already “Yes Kristi, I will make time for us when I get back. I promise we will get there soon!”. The feminine voice suddenly Stopped and changed back to the guttural form of ACE. “Do you want me to Continue playIn the selection or would you prefer something else, sir?”. Orion layer down on his back on the deck, “No continue, once it’s finished que up the data on the NP1 and the Mortem Obire. I need everything we got.” I’m just going to close my eyes for a bit.

The aria had finished as Orion slowly opened up his eyes to ACEs pop down monitor opening and loading the data metrics for the two behemoths. “Thanks ACE”. Orion began to rifle through the screen on the monitor and after a few more minutes of comparing he piped up in a stern voice. “Play Entry of the gods to Valhalla”

The Hero's of Theonia

A sudden gust of wind blew down on the medics and employees of the hospital from the middle of the street. The air blowing hard on Nora and Ruth causing them to shield their faces from the dust and debris kicked up. A large black VTOL had vectored in for a landing and its revolving red lights beefed to ensure that people underneath knew to stay away. The crew was good and landed quickly and In a small space avoiding a cement berm. The back popped open before it had even landed three individuals, two of which were armed headed straight for the hospital staff while another four headed for the mech that Nora had parked. The first two had immediately setup a small perimeter while the individual who seemed to be the leader brandished a tablet and began speaking to the staff halting their expeditious urge to address the injury.

The four all dressed in black each were carrying different setups. One carried a small collapsible military grade stretcher, two with different types of trauma bags, and one with a large metal case. The individual with the metal case stopped and confronted Nora asking if she was involved while the others followed a wrist mounted tracker, found Talon, and immediately began triage.

“We found him” yelled a tough looking corpsman, motioning for one of the men with the Lasrifles to watch guard. The hospital staff at this point had began having a heated argument with the man holding the tablet throwing their arms in the air and making pointed accusations. They weren’t sure what more to be angry at, a giant VTOL landing on an unpermitted location and on an unpermitted space or the fact this group had just single handedly eliminated and obstructed them from admitting life saving care.

A sharp pain stabbed into Talons remaining arm and he flinched at the sudden shock of being awakened. He overheard a shadowy figure “He’s in hypovolemic Shock but someone’s already worked on him, We’ve got a weak pulse but he’s still with us. Tell Roddy to get the Bus ready we’ll be ready for transport in 5”. The crew worked with military precision using all manners of techniques at their disposal. The stretcher popped open and Talon felt himself being shifted onto it. He was barely hanging with it but he was able to open his eyes to see Nora talking to another shadowy figure. “Your going to make it sir, stay with us!” Shouted the corpsman shining blinding light into each of his eyes making Talon squint. Another sharp pain as the corpsman stabbed a large metal rod into where his arm used to be. It’s cylinder attached had tubes that were attached higher up and fed a blue liquid intravenously. Talon screamed in pain looking towards his arm. “Pains good sir, means we’re still alive. 60 seconds” screamed the corpsman as the crew began to prep Talon for his casevac.

Talon was able to glimpse Blackwaters daughter. He wanted to point to have the crew take note but his arm was missing and he was once again fading. “3, 2, 1, Lift”. As Talon was hoisted he fumbled with his Titanium Savajin watch releasing the clasp with his fingers. He began to be hustled to VTOL passing by Nora. He saw the shadowy figure with the case force Nora back and turn to bring up the rear of the group. Talons eyes closed and his arm dropped over the side of the stretcher, off his wrist at Noras feet fell the watch. The last words he heard before passing out was the figure with the metal case addressing the corpsman “He isn’t going to really make it is he?”.

Intergalactic Space Adventures --- ISA

“That’s really the only option we have” exclaimed Orion. The interceptors at that moment did a fly by searching and scanning for any signs of life or electrical surges, they let loose a concussion missile that obliterated a nearby dilithium hauler, they were not taking prisoners. Their Blue photon trails Staying in unison assured Orion that they had stayed in formation and had not yet detected the ship he was on but it would only be a matter of time.

He looked down at his bomber jacket Draped around Ursa cursing himself For not removing the contents in his inner pocket before offering his coat. “Your slipping Orion” he thought to himself figuring out how to get those back in case Ursa rifled through his pockets. He turned toward Cel Who seemed visibly uneasy and his hair had mysteriously changed colour. “You got a little something in your hair Cel, probably some drive grease you may want to address”. It definitely wasn’t drive grease but he figured he’d save him the embarrassment and throw him a bone.

“Xael”. If you wanted to set the coordinates for The Briar Patch outside of the Mephiston system We can get to my dropship. “I presume this ship has a lot more hidden that can handle that area of space?”

The briar patch was a spacers worst dream. Remnants of explosive gas clouds in space, the odd gravimetric well from old nebulas, meteorite belts and radiation storms that scrambled most crafts fly by wire systems which forced the pilots to manually travel through. The perfect place to hide as not many dared to get close.

Suddenly ACE boomed to life reciting backup procedures and blurting out operational and system errors. “ACE, you good?” Queried Orion. ACE replied “systems operating at 40% efficiency. EMP surge detected. Movement and protectorate functions at bare minimum. Diagnostics re routed for optimum usage. Sorrry boss.” The last few words glitchy and stammered. “Xael, if I can plug him in to your hyperdrive I can get us a lot closer to my dropship and minimize the risk of the first part of the briar patch, however In his state he could also put us in into that bloody ship over there too.” Ace stammered out loud “Mortem Obire”. Caught off guard Orion asked “What?”. “The target ships name. Mortem Obire. In Old Terran Latin, Mortem Obire can be broken down a few ways. It could mean to face death. The Latin phrase about death could be translated as leave this life to remember someone you’ve lost. I also was able to procure schematics at the expense of some of my stems being damaged doooo doooo doooo to the emp.”

Leave this life? Face death? Orion had faced death many times, he’d never been lucky enough to embrace it. Only to be left with the scars of his friends and family who had. Orion secretly wished for death but he felt something was holding him back as punishment for not being able to interfere with deaths grasp, not being the one to take the plasma blast, nor the knife, to not be the hero mourned. It was easier to be dead than alive. Orion questioned his morals. Was this ship truly his creation? A machination of his thoughts and ideas. “ACE, compile and store all data in operational folder titled personalem inferni (personal hell), I’ll need everything you got for when we get back to the dropship!” Orion ordered.

Orion looked at Cel and stated “In response to your question, you will know when I know. This is not mine”. Pointing at the Mortem “However I feel I have had a hand in the creation of this. I don’t expect any of you to understand but I ask that you trust me. Once we get to my dropship we will be safe and we can sort any discrepancies there.”

His hard wired military instincts forcing through Orion looked to Ursa adding “If your as good as I think you are we will be in safe hands but in our best interests I feel it would be best if Xael helped with the navigating. This being her ship and all and it normally takes two to get through the patch intact.” He motioned. “Xael, once we get your drive online one of us can man the laser and shift the shield if needs be to deflect any blasts if we’re detected. Then it’s up to you, and ACE if you wish to get that hyperdrive dialed in and get us out of here. Once were in hyperspace if there was a spot where I could collect my thoughts and go over some of the data from ACE I’ll get you to point in the right direction. Just let me know before we exit hyperspace be prepared for evasive maneuvers immediately. The briar patch is no cakewalk.

Intergalactic Space Adventures --- ISA

“That’s a good question” stated Orion “Ursa, is it?”. Ursa nodded an affirmative while maintaining her facial expression. Orion could see the breath begin to form from the loss in temperature and as a kind gesture offered his coat to Ursa. “It’s going to get colder and you might want this For the time being.“. He paused “Now we would have to ask the missus over here about the hyperdrive.”

Orion turned towards Xael. “Forgive my intrusions but I am most appreciative of you risking to travel with us particularly without knowing who or what we were. Formal introductions would be prudent concerning the state we are in.” Orion thought for a moment and looked back towards Ursa who had that old familiar look and Drifted his gaze to the black monstrosity outside the cockpit. “Officially I am Star Colonel Orion Cassius Steiner of the 21st Centauri Lancers. Prince to the Valorian Hedgemony. I was a student under Anastasius Focht of the Maskirovka before our world Valera erupted into full scale war with the Rulons again. I feel compelled to be honest with you all. I have been trying to secure the funds and back channel support for Valora. We are at a stalemate and have been fighting a losing war. I sequestered Celebrimbors services for transport to my dropship. We all seem to have come together by pure coincidence. Gladly I thank you all for putting any differences aside to emerge from this horror unscathed.” He extended the olive branch “This is your ship. I am at your mercy. I would prefer and I would pay you in kind if you would take me to my dropship, however if you want to go to another system, I can find an alternate way to get back”. Celebrimbor Looked up in dismay most likely perturbed by Orion’s choice to offer an alternative that did not coincide with him getting his deal so Orion mentioned “Don’t worry Cel, our deal still stands and in light of the circumstances I’m sure we can come to another arrangement that works for both of us.”

Orion turned back to the control panel pushing himself off of a stagnate ACE, his magnetics keeping him attached to the deck in near zero g. “Just curious”. He motioned to Xael “How long would it take for your systemS to be back. Without a doubt whomever they are will be sending out scout fighters to finish the job”. He turned back to Ursa draping his jacket over her and the chair. “That was some nifty flying, you didn’t learn that all from simple shoot an scoots. You’ve been places and by the look on your face Wherever it was left a scar. The eyes don’t lie.” He stared at her for a moment looking past the emotional barricade she was putting up. He’d seen that look every time he looked in a mirror. “Now once we get this up and running is there anything I can do to assist?”

............autonomous computerized entity boot sequence initiated.
............Diagnostic recovery in progress.
............Sensors Initiating.
...............................
............uplink to Master override complete.
............Fission startup initiated.
........................3...2...1.
Autonomous systems activated.
Weapon Systems Nominal.
Life Support Systems Nominal.
All Systems Nominal.
Searching....................
Status Operation Nova Redoubt .... pending
Status Operation Vigilance ... pending
Status Operation Nimbus Point 1 ... Complete. Files Secured.
Status Sagittarius ... unknown
Status Valora ... unknown ...unable to update

Unable to locate Signal 224.
Unable to locate Signal 418.

Commencing secondary startup and tertiary systems.
Memory purge, systems incomplete.
Beginning tertiary diagnostics and memory defrag...

Intergalactic Space Adventures --- ISA

Dragged up to the cockpit Orion looked up through the perspex glass in astonishment. "It can't be, that's impossible!"

Eclipsed by Saturn and looming ominous like a demon backlit by flames was a space fortress of monstrous proportions. Gothic in architecture the fortress' midsection was slowly rotating clockwise while the upper and lower sections were rotating in the opposite direction to compensate for the loss of gravity in space. A ship of that size simply could not have enough gravimetric pods to safely create artificial gravity like capital ships could. Large bursts of flame erupted from 4 long apertures in the midsection which rained down upon the moon of Phobos' primary Colony station. Other bright flashes of light erupted as capital guns fired in addition with an engaged Phobos Fleet. Popping on the fortress' surface on what looked like a rippling bubble was the return fire from the fleet. Splashes of purple and green in what seemed an attack of such insignificance.

"I will crush you as if you were but an ant under my thumb" thought Orion. ACE cut through the silence in response to Celebrimbors accusatory remarks with a cold explanation. "A planetary station originally designed for protection and interstellar trade, Nimbus Point One or NP1 was once an experimental hub designed for the Valorians stationed off the Gates of Auriga. An attack by Rulons with the intent as a first and last strike measure decimated a large portion of the Valorian fleet who were charged with protecting the station. Caught off guard and outgunned the Valorians fought a defensive battle but attrition took its toll. Time was desperately needed to stave off combined attacks on the station. Unknown to most people the station had many experimental weapons and even were testing Dark Void technology."

Orion interrupted visibly shaken "In an effort to try to salvage lives and technology the Admiral of the station shifted orbit to shield what little was left of the fleet. Several of the larger ships who were transporting civilians used the stations experimental Dark Void and disappeared. I had a hand in designing some of the weapons and even drew up a rough sketch of a rotating payload delivery system to get dropships on planet surfaces faster and safer." He paused and whispered "Is evil something you are? or something you do?". Raising his voice "It cant be though. Those initial drawings were on the Sagittarius and that ship disappeared into the void and that station was destroyed!" Slamming his fist on the control panel, sadness giving rise to anger "and my sister gave her life to make sure of that!"

Eyes watering from a flashback of his sisters mayday message hanging in his head Orion looked away from the party and out onto the maelstrom in front of him. "I don't know what else to say." Composed he looked back towards Celebrimbor intently. "I don't believe it would be after me? It makes no sense. Nothing does. Did you see the round that sniper used? A flechette round. Whoever wanted me dead also wanted my body found and wanted me to be recognized, publicly displayed but perhaps by someone with motive not to show me disfigured. Not a simple blow the back of my head off dirty kill. This was meticulous and this was calculated. It just doesn't make sense someone would go to the trouble and then order an orbital bombardment. No, this must be something else. That ship shouldn't even exist. Those weapons seem designed for an assault on the colony station itself." He paused hoping Cel would let his statement sink in before reacting he mentioned to ACE "Can you identify the ships name or callsign?"

Orion stabilized himself as Ursa rocked the ship back towards Phobos in an effort to dodge a civilian Caravelle, its cockpit shattered and bodies floating into space; the moon appeared to be cracking from the continuous concussive force from the fortresses main guns. The colony station was in flames and few ships were coming out of the makeshift atmosphere anymore. In space, the ship was avoiding debris from all manner of destroyed imperial and private ships alike. Swarms of coordinated strikes seemed to be occurring on larger vessels, even ones that obviously had no defensive weapons and were purely civilian. The military channels were a cacophony of chatter, screams and calls for help went unanswered. Phobos was no more. The moon seemed to shudder before seemingly expunging a 1/3 of it's surface in opposite directions with light appearing from Saturn through the moons broken core.

In the quiet moments that followed while the members looked out in awe at such a destructive force , blue light rippled from the massive station outwards. It flowed like a phosphorescent wake creating darkness where once there was light. Ships in the distance their drives burning bright turned to black and appeared to lose control. Using the shipboard computers ACE quickly scanned the behemoth "Class unidentified...technology unidentified...weapons unidentified...name identified...origin identified...previous location unidentified...presence of a gravimetric well increasing...". The wave got closer as some ships initiated their hyperdrives and escaped to long distant places. Orion cut ACE off before he could finish "Shut it down! Shut it all down now or were all dead!"

Schematic

Intergalactic Space Adventures --- ISA

Orion brought up a picture of docking bay November. Well, what used to be it. The bay was completely obliterated and as to be expected, no interceptor. “Damn” cursed Orion slamming his fist on ACE. ACE jolted from the shock of his steel fist resetting to ensure his system would remain running without any bugs. The screen tripped and what must have been a firewall was bypassed on the ships screen.

Nice trick. Wonder what else is hidden behind here. He thought better as the last thing he needed was to tell that girl what she didn’t want to hear or see and I’m sure she wouldn’t want him snooping so he pulled ACE out and directed him to find a place and to enter standby mode.

“Relax blue eyes, it must have been this rust bucket over here, I’ll get him to fix that up when he can” proclaimed Orion. “Anyways my ships toast so there’s no need to be concerned however before we start making plans maybe we better figure out what the hell is going on out there cause I ain’t got a clue.”

The Hero's of Theonia

Talon had passed out before the individual addressing his wounds could finish. He had lost alot of blood and despite his fight or flight mechanics kicking in was not prepared for anything less than anti-grav in a sensory deprivation capsule. During the time he was blacked out he dreamt of soft white sand beaches and a lush jungle cruise. His dream state was awoken by a jolt to his sternum and the flash of lights until all went quiet again.

He squinted his eyes open to discover that he was face down on the ground and had a mouthful of dirt. He used his one hand to push himself up to his feet and steadied himself on the disposal truck as he caught his breath. He looked up to see the driver fumbling to open a storage compartment. Talon tried to stumble towards the individual leaving a bloody streak on the side of the truck. His ears still ringing he saw the storage door open.

The driver began talking and had his hands up but for what reason Talon did not know nor could understand. He slowly kept creeping towards the driver and began to get weaker. He reached for his belt and keyed several buttons on it for an emergency call to his home. He stumbled missing a step as the blood loss began to overtake him and he reached out to grab hold of the individual however he dove to the ground which put Talon on a collision course with the ground. He landed in front of the storage door with no arm to brace himself. The pain sent a shock through his body, but before he passed out once more he was able to see a lone figure rolling and then running away with what seemed inhuman speed.

Intergalactic Space Adventures --- ISA

The explosion triggered part of the skywalk to buckle and begin to collapse as the members darted past the rubble and flames. They came around a bend to discover the southeast landing pad in a state of disarray. People and shorehands were everywhere. A mad house if there ever was one. Not far away a cargo door opened to a smaller merchant caste style vessel in which the small girl was now checking in what Orion could assume was some pre-flight checks. In barely readable red lettering on the side of the hull were the words, HMS Eternal.

Orion questioned the space worthiness of the vessel but figured he didn’t have time to worry and instead climbed on board. Immediately getting on board he had ACE plug in to a data port on the ship to do a quick diagnostics check. He wasn’t about to go down because of a careless reactor fault.

ACEs readout began to display the schematics, class and condition of the ship. She looked worse than he thought,Class III Engine which was big for this size but only operating on about 67% efficiency, no weapons, No escape pods, structural integrity failing on the landing gear, minimal shielding, and to top it off the Hyperdrive was out. Wait... “there’s no fuckin hyperdrive at all“ yelled Orion out loud. “What kind of piece of junk is this?” Hearing this Celebrimbor stared at Orion in disbelief unable to speak.

Orion situated himself in a chair while he tried to gather his thoughts. Tapping into a security cam feed to inspect his ships condition. He spoke to Cel while waiting for the uplink “Maybe at least we could use this scrapheap to get near the navy as I doubt that’s a meteor storm out here even if she says so, or better yet give me a lift to my ship if there’s anything left of her. That chick can’t hope for us to stay in orbit long when who knows what is happening.”