‘Canderous the Navy Man’?
More like ‘Canderous the Fool’!
Ever since he and Bendak reported back to the captain on the bridge, only to be stopped by a small guard of marines upon entering, he has had worry crawling all over him. Once they started walking through the bridge bulkhead door after the scanning process, two marines stopped them immediately. One of them briefly raised his right hand into the air, which made the captain walk over to them. Once the captain came up to he and Bendak, he explained that the fleet admiral of the entire Federation Navy requested an audience with him. Canderous went from brave and bold, to scared shitless.
The Fleet Admiral. Second in command. The grand blaster-master.
He wasn’t ready for this. He wasn’t ready for this at all, and he knew it, whole and true. He was going to make a fool of himself on an Erebus, with the fleet admiral no less. His brain was full to bursting. He felt as if he had to memorize a single order from the admiral he was going to explode.
*deep sigh* ‘Ok, I can do this...I can do this...I can do this.’ He thought to himself while drumming on his legs with his fingers as he walked down a corridor, Bendak and two marines at his sides.
‘Aw who the hell am I trying to fool? I can’t do this! I just enlisted, and now they want to test me by making me take a trip to the flagship of the entire Federation Navy? This isn’t gonna end well...’
The group took a sudden sharp turn down a wide corridor where at the end they had reached the the hangar entrance doors. A marine standing guard at the door’s control console saluted them and opened the door at Bendak’s command. The door swung open, revealing to Canderous as to what he feared to be the last flight of his life. A silver and chromed Gallente shuttle was awaiting in the hangar bay, it’s ion engines in standby mode and it’s passenger ramp fully extended. Alongside it’s outer hull was a name, that in his eyes, practically spoke the words of death itself.
GFT Endar Spire.
The Endar Spire was hell, and this shuttle was his silver, ghostly carriage.
Yup, I’m a dead man.
Canderous assumed that the marines standing guard near the shuttle were demons awaiting to drag him inside, but they stood guard as usual, their weapons in hand and their backs in a straight, stout position. The marines that had escorted Canderous and Bendak to the hangar bay saluted the sergeant before strolling out of the hangar. After the hangar entrance door closed, a tall marine in dark, black armor stepped out of the shuttle and onto the passenger ramp, his helmet completely hiding his unknown face. After taking a quick look around the room, the black marine walked down and off the ramp. He stopped again to observe the room once more. Canderous didn’t know why he was doing this, but for a marine with armor as black as space itself, armor that is in fact completely different from the armor of the other marines that he had encountered before, he must have been of a much higher rank. Higher rank usually meant more precautionary measures had to be taken before someone is brought aboard one of the most important command ships in the Gallente Federation.
After a few extra moments of forced precaution, the black armored marine made his way over to Canderous, where upon reaching him, he looked at Canderous square in the eye, his solid black and eyeless helmet gazing into his mortal soul like the famous ‘Black Monolith’ from a storybook he read as a child. After Canderous felt that his soul was throughly scrubbed with fear, the marine turned to Bendak. The marine brought up his hand to his forehead in a salute, Bendak following suite.
“Well Nord, I was only ordered to escort you to the hangar bay, so this is where I depart. Best of luck.” Bendak turned around and started walking towards the hangar entrance door, chuckling under his breath, “You’re gonna need it.”
The black marine said nothing, but motioned Canderous to follow him to the shuttle. After going through a handheld scanning procedure done by another marine at the shuttle doorway, he boarded the shuttle and took a seat near a viewing window. Windows were pretty uncommon in New Eden due to them acting as a structural weakness should the vessel ever come under attack. It was a rare occasion to be able to look out deep into space and gaze at it’s many wonders and splendors without the fear of a surprise ambush, making this hellish flight to his doom, a bit more enjoyable... well it would be more enjoyable if the black armored marine hadn’t taken the seat closest to Canderous, which just happened to be directly to his left side. The marine was starting to creep him out...
After the passenger door was sealed shut and everyone was secure in their seats, the grunt voice of the shuttle captain gave the all clear signal for takeoff over the intercom. A few seconds afterward, the engines roared to life. The captain spoke over the intercom again, his words muffled over the sound of the engines. Immediately after the captain finished his un-recognizable speech, the shuttle bolted forward like a rocket, the force of the sudden move sending Canderous’s body flying backwards into the seat. The force of the takeoff was so great that he couldn’t even turn his head without another torrent of forward force slamming his head back against the seat. He used a great deal of his strength to manage his head to his left side. He took strange notice to his armored bodyguard next to him. He just... sat there... straight up he might add. The marine looked as if he had experienced this sort of thing daily. He looked further down his black armored body, this time taking notice as to the safety straps that secured his body in pla-...
Safety straps... of course. Canderous thought as he vigorously rubbed his newly acquired headache in both pain and a feel of stupidity. The ship began to slow down very quickly. Canderous could finally move his body fluently again.
Microburn stage complete. Resuming normal flight path to the Endar Spire.
The shuttle slowed to it’s normal speed, if you can count a blazing six-hundred sixty-five meters per second “normal speed”. What kind of shuttle moves that fast? And why the sudden jolt of thrust when the shuttle exited the hangar bay? Canderous decided to save those questions for later and enjoy the majestic views of the deep void outside. ‘Majestic’ was certainly the word to use here, but not always for the views of space itself, but for the ever-expanding Gallente outpost flying past his eyes.
From the high viewpoint of the shuttle, the outpost was much larger than it looked before. Instead of seeing just frigates patrolling the outer walls and battleships guarding the main entrance, there was much more to be seen. Shipyards and ammunition production facilities were spread out in several places, different types of battleships already under construction in each one. It sent a fringe of pride in Canderous to see the gears of the mighty Gallente war-machine grinding along beautifully before his eyes. Around a dozen Thanatos-class carriers were lined up in two rows, six to each row, possibly acting as a reserve fighting force for the outpost. Alongside the carrier reserve, was a battlecruiser reserve force, consisting of dozens upon dozens of Brutix and even the new Talos-class battlecruisers. The Myrmidon-class of battlecruiser was also in the reserve, but not in nearly as great of numbers as it’s brothers in arms.
Canderous wanted to gaze some more, until the slowly appearing end section of a certain ship caught his eye. The stern of the Endar Spire slowly crept into view, sending an unusually cold pang of fear down his neck.
“Now on approach vector to the docking bay of the Endar Spire. Thane, Fleet Admiral Onasi has ordered you to personally escort forward scout Canderous Nord to the bridge. No exceptions.” said the shuttle captain once again speaking over the intercom, this time in a much audible tone of voice.
‘Well Canderous, it was nice knowing you...’
The shuttle slowed itself to an even lower speed as the maw of the Titan’s ship maintenance bay engulfed the shuttle. As with before, the shuttle slowly lowered itself to the floor and landed, a loud bang sealing the deal. The passenger door unlocked and extended outward, allowing a slew of random intercom noises and the stomping of boots on metal to flood his ears. The black marine stood up first and walked to the exit, only to stop, twirl around, and valiantly raise and stomp his boot on the floor, keeping his hands behind his back and his head pointing forward. Canderous slowly stood up and walked to the marine, who nodded his head and exited through the doorway, Canderous following behind him.
~~~~~
Remember how the walk to the bridge of the Iron Giant didn’t take too long with most of the corridors and sections being empty?
This was completely different.
A Titan is several times the size of a supercarrier, making the trip to the bridge a much more tiring and frustrating task. The Titan itself was so massive that a monorail was installed to get around the ship faster, but that wasn’t the worst part of it. A trip to the bridge seemed tiring enough, but the walk to the main monorail station seemed like walking to one end of a station and back. Hundreds of marines, mechanics, and sweaty engineers passed by Canderous and his armored bodyguard, most of them running and bumping into one another. Upon reaching the monorail station, it became very crowded very quickly. When the monorail that lead to the bridge arrived, his bodyguard stepped in first, looked around the monorail car, and motioned Canderous inside. Taking his seat, Canderous noticed that no one else had boarded the monorail. Just as he was about to ask his seemingly forever silent bodyguard why, the sliding doors closed and the monorail car took off towards it’s destination.
Upon arriving, Canderous noticed a group of marines standing guard at the door, weapons resting upon their shoulders. One of them was holding a handheld scanner instead of a weapon, staring at Canderous through the clear glass of the opening doors with serious eyes. After going through a difficult scanning procedure, his bodyguard walked him towards the bridge bulkhead doors, where he and Canderous went through another scan. He felt as if he needed to scrub his entire body clean. The bodyguard opened the bridge bulkhead using a keycard that he seemed to produce out of thin air. Canderous followed him inside, only to be greeted by a third scanning process.
‘These scans are starting to get a bit annoying’ said Canderous under his breath.
“He’s clean. Full scan detects no weapons or hazardous contraband.” said the marine performing the scan to another marine standing beside him.
The marine pocketed his scanner and looked back up to Canderous, “The fleet admiral will arrive shortly. In the meantime, stay here, and don’t touch anything.” said the marine before walking back his post. Canderous stood there with a stiff look on his face, preparing for his inevitable doom meeting with the second most powerful man in the Gallente Federation. He twidled his thumbs to pass whatever time he had left, taking occasional glances at the many marines giving him awkward stares..
He ceased his repetitive thumb twidling when he heard the bridge door open. A marine clad in shining silver armor regally stomped through onto the bridge, his heavy boots sounding off like a gunshot with each step he took. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned towards the new arrival. An eerie silence fell over the room for a few seconds as the marine stepped to the side, throwing his arm up to his forehead.
“Fleet Admiral Onasi on deck!” shouted the shiny-clad marine.
Immediately, everyone on the bridge stopped whatever task they were doing, stepped away from their posts, and threw their arms up to their heads. Canderous, no matter how badly he didn’t want to, put his arm to his forehead, his bodyguard slowly raising his own hand alongside him.
A tall, aged man slowly stomped his way onto the bridge, his hands behind his back and the noise of his heavy boots resounding around the room. He wore a long, blue trench coat with several medals pinned to the front pocket. A patch on the coat’s right shoulder clearly identified him as the Fleet Admiral of the Federation Navy. There was a much shorter man following behind him, this man appearing to be even older then the fleet admiral. The old man also seemed to posses one of those rare, occular implants that only the rich could ever afford. He must have a fairly large research budget to afford that shiny piece of equipment...
“Gentlemen, at ease...” commanded the fleet admiral.
Everyone nodded their heads in acknowledgment and went back to work at their respective posts. The fleet admiral walked over to Canderous, where upon reaching him, he extended his hand outward to offer a handshake. Canderous could only stare at the fleet admiral’s face, wondering as to what this man would do to him should he ever say or do something wrong. Canderous then realised what the fleet admiral was doing and shook his hand in return. A smile crept upon the admiral’s face, who then shook back. He turned to Canderous’s bodyguard, placing his hands behind his back.
“Thane, you to are at ease, and you can take that helmet off if you wish. I imagine that it must be awfully hot inside...” said the fleet admiral with his grinning face.
His now named bodyguard grabbed the helmet that hid his face and twisted it several times, slowly taking it off once it clicked out of place. Now Canderous can finally see the man behind the ma-...
What Canderous saw wasn’t the type of person he was expecting to see. It wasn’t a man, but a woman. A woman with long, black hair that was tied back with a hair bow. Somehow, Canderous knew that a marine with a body that slim couldn’t have been a man. It also explained why the armor was differently shaped from the male versions of marine armor.
“Argh, bout’ damn time. That helmet just had to come off. Not being able to breath is one thing, but having to babysit a new recruit...” said Thane with a tone of annoyance clear in her voice.
“Thane, you would do yourself well and think before you speak towards a superior officer.”
Thane looked deeply embarrassed, “Oh...uh...sorry bout’ that sir.”
“Thane! How nice it is too see my own daughter again!” said the old man as he came up from behind the fleet admiral, grabbing one of his daughter’s gloved hands and shaking it violently.
“N-nice to see you too dad. Mind letting go of my hand? I don’t really think this is the right place to have a reunion, your also kinda squishing it...” said Thane with a light hint of blush above her nose.
The old man looked down with wide eyes at his still shaking hands, releasing his grip once he noticed that her hand was starting to turn pale. The fleet admiral chuckled at the old man’s antics.
“I believe introductions are in order.” the admiral said with a bold voice, standing up straight and putting a clenched fist near his heart, “I am Fleet Admiral Sirian Onasi, high commander of the Gallente Federation Navy and captain of the Endar Spire. This man beside me is my good friend and head researcher of the Federation, Sticatto.” Sticatto took a slight bow at Sirian’s words.
Sirian turned towards Thane, “And I believe that you have already met Thane, daughter of Sticatto and one of the best soldiers I have ever seen.” Thane smiled at Sirian’s compliment.
“Sirian, introductions are all well and good, but I believe that mister Nord is wondering as to why he has been called here...” said Sticatto while he motioned his shaky fingers suggestively.
“Oh...uh...of course” said Sirian with an annoyed grunt, “Thane, you are to report back to your usual duties. This conversation is meant to be heard between the three of us alone.”
“Sure chief.” said Thane as she started to walk off. ‘So long as I won’t have to be around any new recruits...’ said Thane under her breath as she walked out of the bridge.
After watching and waiting until Thane left the bridge, Sirian and Sticatto turned back to Canderous, Sticatto’s hands somehow still shaking spasmatically.
“Well Nord...” Sticatto started off, “You have been called to the bridge of the Endar Spire for a very special purpose...” Sticatto continued, “As you may have already noticed, the magnetic storm that used to surround the New Eden Gate has dissipated, granting whoever should stumble upon the site up-close access...” Sticatto started to pace around in small circular patterns, “The Federation was fortunate enough to arrive at the site first, where we immediately began construction on this outpost so we can have a place to study the gate up close and keep any unwanted persons away. We have already had a few Guristas pirate raids and have found a few stowaways in the cargo holds of our Obelisk freighters when the outpost was still under construction. To counter these intrusions, we have placed shipyards around the area so we can keep a steady defensive line...” Sticatto stopped pacing but continued, “But I may digress. Before any further attacks can occur, we have to find out just what exactly is on the other side, and if it really is the birthplace of humanity!” said Sticatto as he moved his arms around in emphasis, “We have studied the gate for quite some time now, and we have managed to repair any damage caused by the magnetic storm. Even though the gate is very ancient, we have still calculated an average probability of success, meaning that we can travel through the gate whenever we wish.” Sticatto’s occular implant whirred softly after a few moments of silence, “But...there is...just one problem...”
Before Sticatto could speak, Sirian cut in first, “We need someone to go ahead of us to ensure that it is safe for the Federation to pass through.”
Canderous pondered through Sticatto and Sirian’s words in his mind, trying to figure out as to where he fits into this. After only a few seconds, it finally clicked.
“You need... a forward scout... and I’m the only forward scout the Navy’s got... right?” Somehow, Canderous felt like this could be his last moments in New Eden.
A moment of silence fell within the group, “Y-yes. Yes you are.” Canderous was deeply worried despite he previous thoughts of heroic status, “But don’t let that deter you from an opportunity like this! Not only will you be the first to see the place where humanity first began, but you will also be recognized as a true hero to all of New Eden, risking your own life just so we can finally look upon our true home and return to it! Think of the honors you would receive! No longer would you have to scrounge around the place, doing odd jobs for small coin just to get by like a desperate beggar.” said Sticatto, throwing his arms around in even greater levels of emphasis.
Sirian perked up, “But the choice to go through rests with you and you alone. Even though you are under my command, I will not allow a fellow Gallentean to risk his own life unwillingly. The choice is yours Nord...”
Canderous moved his head down towards the floor, a full blown wave of questions and emotions flooding his head. His brain was more than full to bursting. It felt as if it would cave in on itself and render him dimwitted for the rest of his days. He pondered for quite some time, taking into account every little thing he has ever done multiple times, only to come out with the same results each time. He had made his decision....
“You know what... I'll do it.” said Canderous, bringing his head back up to eye level with Sticatto’s, “I’ll do it." Canderous repeated, "What have I got to lose?” said Canderous while shrugging his shoulders and a planting a look of seriousness on his face
Sticatto and Sirian’s eyes went wide, a large smile stretching across their faces.
“Perfect!” said an exuberant Sticatto.
“Very well.” said a smiling Sirian.
“...but when exactly do we go through the gate?” asked Canderous.
“Oh? Tommorow actually. As I said, we need to see what is on the other side at our earliest opportunity.” Sirian continued, “Sticatto and his team of researchers will brief you on how things will go and how to prepare for tommorow. Sticatto, if you would...” Sirian motioned towards the bridge doorway
“Ah yes, come with me Nord. My team will be delighted to hear of your decision!” said Sticatto as he guided Canderous out through the open bridge doorway. As Canderous was leaving, he heard Sirian’s voice call out to him from behind.
“Nord wait!” Canderous turned around to acknowledge his voice, “The entire Federation will be looking to you tomorrow. Don’t let us down... I wish you luck and godspeed.” Sirian ended off his little speech with a salute to Canderous. It made him feel good knowing that he was part of the greatest event in the history of New Eden, and that the entire Federation, maybe even all of New Eden, was going to witness him starting it. Not only that, but to be saluted by a very powerful man that he used to fear, had it’s own little tang of glory.
Tomorrow...tomorrow, is gonna be a good day...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
....
Nnnnnope! Still nothing.
Thanks for reading!