Space Engineers: Starship Unknown

by Stalin with Da Spoon

3: Escaping from Planet Bob

Planet Bob. An unknown world on the far reaches of unknown space, un-explored, un-charted, un-inhabited. Well, except for that last part, as we zoom in on a large base in the middle of an ice lake, a large facility constructed by Captain Shack, Commander W4stedspace, and Doctor Morphologis, created thanks to the hole dug by their mining rig.

And right now, the base was not looking so hot.

The facility was lined with a tall square shaped outer wall, reinforced with steel plating, and right now, it had definitely seen better days, with massive holes and gaps in between the walls and some sections fully collapsing, as swarms of armored combat drones, big and small, varying in color and armament, assaulted the fortress. Inside the facility, as the entire base shook from tremors and detonations, as dust and small amounts of rocky debris fell from the ceiling inside. The hallways began to collapse and cave in as ceiling lights became loose and began to spark, with bits of the metal ceiling falling. The situation was desperate, and honestly, quite bleak.

Within the deepest part of the base was the hangar. The room was brightly illuminated by floodlights connected to generators, the light shining all the way up to the command view deck of the hangar, and in the center of it was a massive spacecraft. Along the side of the ship was the name 'Venator' written in bold red font, because Shack was such a big star wars buff. The ship was painted bone white with red secondary and black tertiary coloring, brightly illuminated at its front aimed right up at the hanger door. The armored plating on the ship was thick and densely packed together, meant to resist even the toughest of munitions and impacts.

Several massive hydrogen thrusters were mounted onto its bottom, as well as multiple smaller thrusters on its sides. Those of course, were only the boosters required to actually get the ship into orbit, which would detach when their fuel ran out. The main ship itself was mounted to these boosters, its frame similar to that of the Warden, the crew's dropship, however it was a bit larger and more armored, complete with additional weapons and it's top machine gun mount being replaced with a miniature armored and enclosed turret, designed by Morph, along with having more boosters to allow for space flight and greater maneuverability in atmosphere.

Mounted on the very top of the main ship's frame was a large pulsing blue device, a throwaway jump core. As the name suggested, Morph created it as a way for the ship to make a one way jump within a set range and then jettison the burned out core. It was genius, frankly.

The crew were currently working on preparing the ship for launch, as Morph was currently on the second level doing some last minute welding and running readings, as the sounds of sparks and grinding filled the air, accompanied by the chorus of explosions and gun fire above them.

"Outer wall integrity at twenty five percent. Outer defence turret munitions at eighty percent depletion. Estimated breach of internal defences in five minutes." A feminine robotic voice chimed in over the speakers, as it belonged to TIUS, a back talking sarcastic robotic AI created by the good Doctor Morphologis, as the very annoyed and stressed Doctor responded while he worked.

"I know, TIUS! Don't pressure us! Wasted, how is the fuel going? Please tell me were almost ready, I can barely stand another second longer on this godforsaken planet." Morph said, looking down from where he was currently looking to the floor of the hangar, seeing Commander W4astedspace viewing the readout on a long red pipe leading into the thrusters of the rocket, as he turned and gave a thumbs up.

"Were at ninety five percent Morph, she'll be ready to fly real soon."

"Oh thank god... Captain, how go the last minute calibrations?" Morph said as he looked up and shouted to Captain Shack, who was currently sitting in the front cockpit of the ship, running some final calibrations to ensure the ship was ready, before he slowly climbed out of the cockpit seat and onto the bridge, as he walked to the other side and grasped onto a ladder before sliding down and arriving on the second level.

"She's all set, and good timing too, swear I heard a drone impact the damn hangar door..." Just then, TIUS chimed in.

"Confirmed, the drones are attempting to ram into the hangar door. Also, munitions for outer defence weapon systems have been fully depleted, and wall integrity is at ten percent, breaching of base via ground level drone forces is imminent. I advise you get done soon before the enemy fully breaches our defenses." All three of the crew proceeded to curse at the same time.

"Shit."

Just then, a loud ding was heard, as Wasted looked at the readout on the pipe and smiled as he chuckled and called out to the second level. "Alright, shes fueled up, let's get off this damn rock!" Shack nodded as he looked upwards to see R5 equipped with two welders working above him, as he called out.

"Alright R5, it's time for the transfer!" R5 let out a series of dis-gruntled beeps and boops. "Don't worry R5, as soon as we reach Federation space and get back on solid ground, we'll get you a new body, one better than the old hunk of junk you got." R5 let out a slight beep of annoyance, seemingly being offended. "I didn't mean it like that! Come on man, just work with me." R5 was silent before letting out a happy beep and a bloop of confirmation as he hovered down next to Shack. As Shack got to work extracting R5's AI core, Wasted turned to Morph and asked him an important question.

"Did you get Potatoes on the ship already?"

"Yeah, she didn't really resist, in fact, she seemed eager, probably because it's a new body for her. How about that AI you have?"

"Oh, who, J.A.R.V.I.S?"

"Just Another Rehash of a Very Intelligent System? Yeah, the one that helped you make the Rapier drone that saved our asses when we got back from blowing up that jammer outpost and you hid the entire time. By the way, man why did you keep him secret from us? You couldve told us you had your own AI available, the reason TIUS reacted so badly was you kept a secret from her!" It was then TIUS chimed in.

"Actually, I knew the entire time, I was just angry the Commander kept it a secret from the rest of the crew."

"Wait, really?"

"No, I just wanted to make him feel bad. Besides, it was not hard to trace JARVIS's AI signature from within the base." Cue Wasted facepalming his helmet's faceplate.

"Anyways, the Rapier was fitted with a drone transponder that effectively made it invisible to the drones, so I managed to scavenge the transponder of that type 6 we shot down, and attached it to the Venator, so the drone will think that it's a simple type six drone as we slip away. As for JARVIS, I just re-installed him into my suit, he's offline currently to save power."

"Alright then, Captain, have you got R5's AI downloaded?" Captain Shack looked up from the now offline recon drone body as he nodded.

"Yep, saved onto the suit, so c'mon, were good to go."

Morph and Wasted nodded, as TIUS spoke.

"I have already downloaded myself into the ship, we are green to go, I shall initiate launch preparations. I have also prepped a total lockdown to ensure the base does not fall into enemy hands."

"Alright then, let's get off this planet." Shack said as he began to climb up to third level, the Commander and Doctor following him. As he reached the top, he slowly crossed the bridge leading to the open frontal and back cockpits of the ship, slowly climbing inside the front cockpit as he sealed it shut, locking it as the Commander climbed into the back cockpit, while the Doctor climbed into the open top hatch and inside the rear compartment of the ship, closing the hatch and sealing it shut behind him. As the bridge slowly retracted back, the Captain began the countdown.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five..." As Shack counted down, the thrusters on the ship slowly began to ignite, heating up rapidly as the hangar door began to slowly open. "Four, three, two, one... Ignition!"

The ship's thrusters ignited with full force, as the massive spacecraft lifted out of the hangar bay, as it sealed shut behind the rocket, and the base's lights shut down completely with heavy blast doors and barriers covering the main entrances. As the rocket propelled itself upward into the sky, the G force began to impact the crew, but thanks to their astronaut training, they could handle it, as the ship slowly exited Planet Bob's atmosphere.

"Thruster sets are out of fuel, jettisoning." Wasted said as he pressed a few buttons in his cockpit, as the thrusters attached to the bottom of the Venator slowly detached, metal cables snapping and whipping around as they fell back down to the planet, burning up in it's atmosphere. "Alright, let's do this, begin charging the throw away jump core-"

"Wait, TIUS says she's picking up an unknown signal!"

"Confirmed, I am detecting an unknown signal in a system approximately within the jump core's range. It appears to be a distress signal, though it's origin is unknown."

The captain had a puzzled look, before making a decision. "Charge the core TIUS, let's go and save the day, getting back home can wait a little longer."

"Hell yeah."

"Let's do this, Captain! And Morph, if this core makes this ship wind up like the Constitution, it's your ass."

And with that, the core began to charge, and after a seconds...

The ship jumped, heading for uncharted space.

Meanwhile, back on Planet Bob, an unknown figure had been watching the whole launch. A figure wearing a black suit, with a massive hole in their chest. Several drones approached the figure, and made un-intelligible beeping and whirring, before the figure raised its hand, and pointed at the shuttle. The drones beeped in unison, and flew away. The figure was not done with the crew yet... Not by a long shot.

Author's Note:

Hope you enjoyed this little side chapter showing how Captain Shack and the crew escaped planet Bob. Don't worry, next equestria based chapter will arrive soon.
Note, in a future chapter, I shall provide more context as to why they had to flee, and show the scene of Wasted revealing JARVIS, but until then, just settle for the context this chapter provides. Also, thanks for reading!

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Do I need to know anything about Space Engineers to understand this story?

[Stalin with Da Spoon]

11254014
Not exactly, but watching the related series could help, like Space Engineers Group Survival.

[Jamesonboo22]

The insanity is expanding!!

[Stalin with Da Spoon]

11254022
Oh trust me comrade, the insanity has not even begun.

[ArlynntheDragon]

Ok, seriously WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THE BLACK SUIT?! That's been buggin' me throughout the whole series. Good to see Shack, and the rest show up for this grand adventure.

[Stalin with Da Spoon]

11254066
Trust me, I believe we have all been asking that question ever since it first reared it's ugly helmet head, cause there are so many dang theories. But do not worry, as I plan to at least try and make sense of it, even if it will probably make NO SENSE anyway I explain it.