Part 7
“Canderous...Canderous! You still alive in there?”
Canderous awoke to the sound of Bendak’s voice over the radio. His head was throbbing furiously as he slowly picked himself from up off the floor. He moaned in agony as he slowly shuffled his way over to the cockpit’s chair, stumbling back onto the leather face of the chair. He slowly rubbed his forehead, desperately wishing for the pain to go away after all the horrifying ordeals of whatever time has passed still clung to the roof of the memory center of his brain. He turned his head towards the surprisingly undamaged cockpit viewport. He ignored his neck’s pained cries for mercy as he moved his gaze down towards the control console. He took several mental notes of the structural integrity of the console’s control board. A few bits and pieces were missing or damaged here and there. The distress signal node was badly scorched and sparking wildly, making Canderous worry a bit. A few small circuit boards were either clinging to the sides of the console or scattered in pieces all around him. The horrible pain was still there in his head. He soon felt that his head wasn’t the only part of his body that hurt. His legs were weak and his torso was throbbing with pain nearly just as bad as his head. His arms were surprisingly fine, testing them to make they worked by bending his elbows in several directions.
After a few more agonizing minutes of head rubbing and frustration, Canderous couldn’t take it anymore. He bolted upward from the chair, forcefully ignoring the pain that shot up his body like a hit from an overcharged hit from a police stun baton. His face turned red with anger as he turned his head left and right, searching for something to vent his frustration on. His eyes moved to the spot on the floor from where he woke up a few minutes before. He spots a bottle-sized metal canister near a small puddle of blood. Canderous slowly moved his right hand up to the right side of his face and pressed down, forcing his hand back at a slight wince of pain. He looked down at his right hand, which was now covered in a thin layer of the crimson liquid. The mere sight of his own blood only increased his anger further. He quickly reached down to the canister, grabbed it, and brought it up to his face. After staring at the words ‘Quafe Ultra’ printed in big white letters on the side, he chucked the canister away with all of his might. The canister hit the wall with a loud clang and bounced off the metal surface, where it fell to the floor and rolled to short stop without any visible dents on it.
Canderous wanted to run over to the canister and throw it against the wall over and over again until it would be bent and dented beyond use, but due to the now skyrocketing heights of pain that shot up his torso when he threw the canister, he decided to ignore it and walked back to the cockpit chair. After his little fit of painful rage, Canderous could slowly feel the return of his headaches. He was about to lose it again.
But before he could satisfy his desires to break everything in sight, he thought about having a little drink to help ease his mood. Canderous immediately thought of the special bottle of Gallentean whiskey that Sirian gave to him as a celebration present. He looked left and right until he caught a glint of shimmer in the far corner of his right eye. He turned his head towards the shimmer, and lo and behold, there lay the dark blue bottle of whiskey. The label was torn apart and there were a few scuff marks on the sides, but the bottle appeared to be intact. He immediately grabbed the whiskey bottle, uncorked the top and brought the whole bottle up to his lips, desperately awaiting the arrival of the hard, treasured whiskey to grace his lips with it’s touch, yet nothing came. Canderous was confused. He brought the midsection of the bottle up to his face, where he soon realised that those scuff marks, weren’t scuff marks.
As if waiting for it’s special dramatic cue, the middle of the bottle began to crack and split apart, the entire undersection of the bottle then fell to the floor, shattering on impact.
Canderous’s anger swelled up again. ‘So much for celebrating...’ Canderous thought to himself. He chucked the top half of the bottle at the farthest wall, where it shattered upon impact.
“I...bzzzzztt...know. It’s been five minutes. I’m trying again. Canderous, it’s me, Bendak. If you can hear me, speak up on comms.”
Canderous immediately turned to face the computer. It had come online and so did the radio. He wasted no time in rushing over to the control console and pressing the talk button.
“Bendak? That you?” Canderous replied to Bendak’s earlier words.
“Yea it’s me Nord. We made it through the gate. How are you holding up?” Bendak asked.
“Not to good Bendak. My ship is heavily damaged. I got a headache the size of a pontoon and my chest and legs hurt like hell. Simply put, I feel like shit.” Canderous said with a rough laugh, coughing up a spat of blood soon afterword.
“Well you definitely sound like shit. Can you get your ship to the Iron Giant?”
Canderous glanced over to the control console. After getting a bit closer, he could see that the engine status was in the green.
“Yeah, I think I can. Listen, how far off are you guys?”
“Not far, only thirty-five kilometers from our viewpoint. The Iron Giant’s systems are not fully operational yet, but we can still see your ship from here. Just command your ship’s console to dock up with the Iron Giant. We will have a med-vac team here waiting for you. Any other info we need to know?”
“Well, my stomach’s alcohol content is dangerously low. I require a few dozens beers and a few shots of whiskey, ASAP.” Canderous said with a humerous yet painful laugh, Bendak joining in.
“I wouldn’t laugh too hard if I were you. Now get over here.” The radio went dark, ending the transmission.
Canderous hobbled over a step or two back to his pilot’s chair. He slouched over the console and pressed a few miscellaneous buttons, causing the ship to rumble again slightly. As the ship began to turn, Canderous leaned back and peered out of the viewport, gazing out at the passing stars. The ship’s turning started to slow down until the view of a damaged and dark Nyx supercarrier came into view. The Nyx was tilted forward and to the right a bit. All of the spotlights and running lights that used to adorn the surface of the Nyx were dark and void of light, making the supercarrier look more like an abandoned ruin instead of a damaged capital ship. The interceptor started off on it’s docking course, Canderous having forgotten the fast and sudden take-off of which the various versions of interceptor craft are famous for.
Canderous could just sit there and watch as the Nyx came ever closer with each passing second. He took notice to tiny glimmers of light coming from various places on the supercarrier’s hull. Once Canderous was from what he believed to be about ten kilometers from the docking bay, he hunched over in his seat in a slim attempt to get a closer look. The tiny glimmers of light turned out to be to the glimmer of welding torches specially designed to work in space. These welding torches were attached to the plated arms of a strange type of drone that Canderous had never seen before. It was like a cross between an Ogre and a Wasp heavy attack drones, only much bigger. The drone was welding a massive steel plate to one side of the Nyx, stopping occasionally to move to different spot on the plate and continue it’s welding.
‘Couldn’t the Iron Giant have just used some armor repair drones or something?’ thought Canderous, until he remembered the day that the Federation along with every other race halted the support of combat drones for supercarriers, instead only allowing fighters and fighter bombers to do the heavy hitting for the monstrous vessels.
The drone soon disappeared out of sight as the damaged interceptor slowly made it’s way into the vast ship maintenance bay of the Iron Giant. The interceptor then slowly lowered itself to the metal floor, a rather hard landing following soon afterword. Canderous started to get up out of his chair, only to stumble several times and land face-first on the floor. Every nerve in his body screamed in agony at the hard landing. His muscles tensed up and his heart started to beat rapidly as Canderous watched his own vision slowly melt away. Everything became blurry and out of focus. His breathing started to become haggard and rasp. His hearing was reduced to nothing more than simple, unrecognizable mumbling.
Canderous could however though hear the sound of metal banging against metal. He steadily yet painfully lifted and turned his head to the back, where the tiny maintenance door at the back was currently within the process of being beaten inward from the outside.
Canderous laid his head back down on the floor, earning him another wince of pain. He could hear the faint mumbles of people from outside along with the increasing noise of metal on metal.
The last thing he heard before blacking out was the sound of boots pounding on metal flooring nearby. His body went limp, then his vision soon faded to darkness.
~~~~~
“Nord...”
“err...Canderous Nord?...”
“uh...”
“HEY NORD, WAKE THE HELL UP!”
Bendak gave a swift kick to the side of the medical bed, causing Canderous’s barely awake form to jolt upward immediately. Canderous found himself strapped to a white medical bed with a strange apparatus representing an metal breastplate strapped to his chest. Canderous assumed that he was in the Iron Giant’s badly damaged medical facility. Bendak, along with another marine, were looming over the bedside, staring down at Canderous with looks of all seriousness.
“Well there sleeping beauty, looks like you finally decided to wake up.” said Bendak with a grimaced scowl.
“And with few minor injuries!...along with a major injury with one of your two broken ribs stabbing into your inner flesh. But other than that, you’re alive. Thanks to Federation medical science, we have repaired most of the damaged parts of your body, both inside and out.” said the grey marine, Canderous just now taking notice of the red cross insignia patch located on his right shoulder. “I need you to relax your body Nord so I can remove the gel injector safely from your torso.” Canderous didn’t know what a ‘gel injector’ was, or whatever it’s purpose was for in the field of medicine, but he decided to just throw that question onto the steadily-increasing pile of questions that he needed answering. He relaxed the muscles in his arms and legs, then he relaxed his neck and torso, allowing his body to sink into the firm mattress. The grey marine stepped closer to the bed and placed both hands on the top of the chestplate-like device. The marine’s fingers tapped away at a small touchscreen for a few seconds. Canderous felt a wave of relief and good-feeling when the device finally unclipped and came off, allowing him to breath normally again.
“I think it is safe for you to stand up now Nord, but be careful when doing so.” said the marine.
Canderous slowly slid his body to the edge of the bed, allowing his now painless legs to droop downward. With assistance from Bendak, he was able to make it to his feet, only to stumble over once he did. Bendak quickly caught him, then helped him to his feet again.
“So, how’s it feel to have your chest pumped full of RH gel for the first time? Feels heavy right?” Bendak question Canderous.
“RH gel?” questioned Canderous.
The grey marine spoke up, “Rapid healing gel. A fairly new medical product introduced by Federation scientists around twenty years ago that is injected directly into the torso, most commonly used in field stim packs as quick medicade. Works wonders on humans. Works horrors on just about anything else.” The grey marine laughed at his own joke. “That heavy feeling is just the newly reconstructed tissue reforming to fit your body’s old tissue.”
“Kind of like nanite repair paste?” asked Canderous.
“Exactly.”
“Brinesfield, you may return to your post. I have just received orders from captain Aran to escort Canderous up to the bridge. He has also notified me of more injured personnel heading your way, so prepare to receive them.”
“Yes sir.” With a nod of his head, the marine turned and walked back to the bed that Canderous had previously occupied. Bendak and Canderous then turned and walked out of the open door of the medical bay.
~~~~~
“Silence! SILENCE!” the captain shouted over the noise of his bickering officers.
At the captain’s stern command, the room grew quiet. All eyes now fell upon the captain. “I will discuss in private our next course of action with the chief of engineering along with the chief survey officer! I will not tolerate this childish bickering aboard my ship. Officers, marines, return to your posts.”
As if on cue, the bridge door opened inward, revealing both Bendak and Canderous standing at the doorway. No one seemed to hear them come in though as everyone kept their attention focused on the captain.
“That’s an order.” the captain finished. The massed group of marines split up and returned to their respective posts. The receding tide of marines carved a pathway to the captain, who stood at his control podium at the end of the walkway with both hands behind his back and a grim stare on his face. Bendak and Canderous made their way over to him, saluting him upon reaching him. The captain signaled them to be at ease.
“Nord. Bendak. Follow me.” The captain motioned them to follow him. Nord and Bendak followed him to the furthest end of the bridge’s upper level, then walked down a small flight of steps to the communications deck of the bridge. The group turned around once they reached the bottom steps and walked down a very narrow corridor that seemed to go underneath the bridge’s upper level. Standing at the end of the corridor was a marine standing guard in front of a small door, weapon at his shoulder. When the captain ordered the marine to let them past, he followed his order without question or grunt of distaste. Turning around and practically stopping on a dime, the marine opened the door and stepped inside and announced their arrival to three dimly lit silhouettes inside.
Canderous, followed by Bendak and the captain, stepped through the tiny doorway and walked up close to a dimly lit table in the middle of the room. The marine saluted the sergeant and walked out of the room through the door from which they entered, closing and securing the door behind him.
“Well, looks like the gang’s all here.” said a familiar feminine voice, “Mind if I turn up the lights?” A slim silhouette reached under the table and turned a knob underneath, causing the corner lights in the room to flare up with yellow light, washing away the coat of dim shadow that shrouded the silhouettes. It revealed to Canderous three armored figures. Two men and one woman, Thane.
“Thank you miss Thane.” the captain said with a nod of his head.
“Anytime sir.”
“Canderous,” the captain brought up his right hand and gestured towards the two men next to Thane, “I would like to introduce you to...” he gestured towards a scruffy-faced man with grease-spattered armor, “Chief Engineer Titas,” he then gestured towards the second man, who looked no different than any other marine, except for the patch of a globe on his shoulder showcasing his rank, “and Survey Officer Vadik.” Both men gave a nod and a flick of their wrist with each introduction. “And I believe that you already know miss Thane.”
“Wish I never knew him.” said Thane when she pointed to Canderous. ‘Damn recruits...’ she said under her breath.
“That’s enough introduction. We must get down to business.” the captain paused.
“Here is our current situation. While the jump from New Eden to here was possibly a massive failure, we have still managed to arrive at the former home system of our ancestors. Our ship is heavily damaged and around thirty percent of all onboard personnel have sustained minor injuries. We only have enough supplies to last us for a few weeks. Our current location is near what we belive to be the ancient gas giant, Neptune, the eighth planet farthest from the sun. That is all the information that I have to share for now.”
Titas spoke up after the captain, “I got some good news and some bad news.” Titus continued, “The good news is, the hellstorm we just went through did not cripple our warp drive or any of our critical systems...” Titus cleared his throat before treading onto the bad news, “The bad news. Our jump drive is obliterated. Gone. Destroyed. Barely even qualifies as scrap metal. My crews had found that the jump drive was so badly ripped apart by the energy fluctuations that they couldn’t even unbolt the side casings from the main frame, so they had to leave it there. It’s like someone put a grenade inside of a tin can and set it off! Other than that, I have the HCO heavy drones repairing the exterior of the ship with any scattered pieces of debris that was torn off by the wormhole’s energy. From the look of things right now, they should be done within the hour.”
“I also have something to report!” Vadik perked up. “After performing a directional scan of the system, I have discovered that there is a single temperate planet within the system, that of which we already know as Earth, with the rest of the planets being either barren or gas giants, with the exception of one volcanic world. With no base or outpost nearby, I propose that we settle near Earth’s single moon, maybe even establish a forward outpost on the Earth’s surface for study.”
The captain nodded in good will of Vadik’s proposal. “Sounds like a plan. Not much else that we can do here anyway. Once exterior repairs are complete and most of the men have been treated for their injuries, we will warp to Earth’s single moon and sustain a temporary pattern of lunar orbit.”
Everyone nodded in approval at the captain’s plan of action.
“Beats sitting next to a giant ball of off-blue gas any day. I wanna feel the rock and earth underneath my feet.” said Thane.
“Here are you orders.” the captain turned to Titas first, “Titas, send every engineer and mechanic you have to every part of this ship to search for major faults in the ship’s electronics and hull integrity. Before we even touch the warp drive nav computer, I wanna make sure that ship won’t fall apart if we so much as breath in the wrong direction. I will not be taking any risks in where this ship goes or what it does while it is in it’s current state.”
“Yes sir!” said Titas with a salute.
“Vadik, inform the navigational officers of our new heading. Perform final safety checks on the warp drive’s integrity. Prepare and outfit observational drones. Before we can establish an outpost on Earth, I wanna make sure it’s air is safe for breathing and it’s atmospheric composition is nominal.”
“Yes sir!” said Vadik holding his own hand high.
“Thane, Bendak, I need both of you to head down to the hangar bay as well as the barracks. Find out who is injured and who is not and ensure that any uninjured personnel assist in the preparation of ground teams and ship repair. If any marine whines or bitches about it, make them think otherwise.” Bendak chuckled at the thought of watching Thane beating another marine senseless. Thane took notice to Bendak’s chuckling, clearly unamused.
“You have your orders. Now see them out.” the captain sternly commanded.
“Yes sir!” shouted everyone but Canderous. Canderous was starting to leave with the others, but the captain held him back.
“Canderous,” the captain started, “What happened to the whiskey that Sirian gave you?”
“It’s... gone. When I woke up and tried to take a swig of it, the whole bottle shattered in my grip.”
The captain grunted at this. He then turned around, reached from behind the table, and pulled out a small bottle. “Think fast!” he then tossed the bottle to Canderous from behind his back. Canderous caught it in a heartbeat and eyed the bluish bottle. After turning and examining the label, a smile grew wide across his face.
“Might as well treat yourself after all the shit that’s been happening. I will have orders for you once we reach Earth’s moon. Dismissed.”
~~~~~
Five hours later...
Warp Drive activate.
Aligning to Planet: Earth
Commencing warp in five...four...three...two...one...mark.
And like a speeding bullet, the Iron Giant took off for Earth’s moon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As always, Jonsey sends his regards! Another day, another chapter in.
Thanks for reading!
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“Kind of like nanite repair paste?” asked Canderous.
Nanite repair paste. For Humans.
That's terrifying and fascinating all at once.
Also, in before astronomical shitstorm planetside.
I must say, I'm looking forward to First Contact.
149659
Agreed.
Sweetness!
Is there a kind of update schedule of sorts, or is it jus whenever you can?
Awesome.
I can hardly wait for the next chapter, and first contact.
Also, will Twillight learn that the sun isn´t controlled by the princess?
It would be awesome if Twilight was watching the iron giant when it warps; from her prospective it would arrive at the moon before it left! Good chapter, by the way. I can't wait for contact, both the ponies reacting to the supercarrier and the humans reacting to their fabled homeworld being inhabited by a primitive race.
150334
'It would be awesome if Twilight was watching the iron giant when it warps; from her prospective it would arrive at the moon before it left!'
I never thought of it like that!
149737
I prefer the, "Whenever I bucking feel like it" time
Oh, and I also have to make time for EVE
150334
"It would arrive at the moon before it left"
I don't get it. Somepony wanna explain?
150782
it's faster than light; so the light from Neptune would still be in transit to earth when the Iron Giant arrives at the moon; and Neptune is approximately 4.50 billion km away from the Earth, so light takes ~ 4 Hours to get to earth from Neptune but only 1.2 seconds to travel from the moon. Ergo the iron giant would be in 2 places in the sky for up to 4 hours...
Is that a good enough explanation?
/Geek
151530
Ooooooh.
I thought he was...well...something involving the story was here a second ago
At some point it will look as if Nyx warps it's copy from Earth to Neptune to annihilate another copy.
By the way, I have a little request here. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." So please don't leave magic at "it's magic, I ain't gonna explain it" state. You made some promising hints with Everfree after all.
153039
When the Nyx warps, it will warp like it does in EVE Online. Staying in a warp tunnel for a few seconds then landing a few seconds after.
EvE online doesn't account for speed of light. Also warping ships in EvE are visible. If you add the speed of light to equation, you will see what I've described.
Finally Some ponies.
thanks god