(OOC: PokeCharms' very first Spore-based Rp. Participants: Create your own empire, Religious, Economic, or Military, and fight the Grox or fight us.)
Zarine checked her armour, making sure it was all intact and working. She also checked that the energy crossbow, plasma sword and all other weapons were ready to fire at any moment. When she was satisfied, she settled back in her hiding place and studied the area below her.
Zarine was a Lunaian, a species of blue lizard like humanoids with a reasonable amount of intelligence compared to some other species. She'd been born on the home planet of the Luna Empire, and raised like every other young Lunanian. During that time, her teacher and parents discovered she had a talent for stealth and thieving. So, Zarine was taken to a special school and taught there to become a soldier. This was her first real mission — guarding the entrance to the Mothership Moonlight — and she did not want to fail.
The area below Zarine was where smaller ships could land to access the Moonlight. A variety of ships of different shapes and sizes were scattered below in an organized chaos. A bunch of armed soldiers were down below as well. She knew that in addition to the soldiers, below there was two other Lunaian's, skilled in the same areas she was, waiting and watching just as she was. She knew that unless she got extremely close to their hiding places, she wouldn't be able to see them at all. Same with her hiding place. No one would see her until she had a knife in their throat.
‘Hmmm… I wonder why there are three hidden Lunaians and 25 armed soldiers near the entrance… I know this is the Moonlight, but surely a total of 10.000 Lunaians who can fight would be a bit ridiculous?' Zarine said to herself.
But hardly anyone on board knew of the precious cargo the Moonlight was carrying. And no one on board thought of the best way to kill 10.000 Lunaians.
Moonlight Control Room
‘Status check, Tani?' A well-dressed Lunanian asked to one of the Lunaians behind the computers in the semicircle cockpit of the Moonlight. ‘All systems on. No enemy's spotted in a megameter around our fleet. Starfleet still completely intact. No damaged ships.' ‘That's not entirely true. Ship 5937 has a damaged plasma shield.' Another Lunaian shouted. Fyro rolled his eyes. Roaron always had to interfere.
Suddenly, a red light started flashing on the main screen. ‘Disturbance in sector AIO-849, General.' Tani said. ‘Situation scan, Roaron?' Fyro said, his voice surprisingly calm. ‘It looks like a gamma ray has hit a wormhole, General.' ‘Outcome?' ‘The gamma rays force has centered the wormhole's gravity. Wormholes are nasty things. I'm not sure what will happen. But I have an idea…' his voice faltered away. His blue scales turned a little white, and his eyes ‘What is wrong, Roaron?' Roaron took a deep breath. ‘There's are theory's that states that all wormholes, although they come only in twins, are somehow connected. If the gamma ray has centered the wormhole's gravity, that might mean the wormhole turned into a black hole. The point is, it's a black hole kind we're not familiar with. We're the first ones ever to see it happen.' ‘What does that mean for us?' ‘That the black hole gravity might break through our plasma shields.'
There was an awkward silence in the cockpit. Then Fyro shouted: ‘Code B1 to all spaceships. Retreat to star system length away from this place. We need to get out of here!' The radar showed that all spaceships retreated. Except the Moonlight.
‘What is happening?' Fyro said, his voice shuddering. ‘Our ship is too big to overcome the gravitational pull. Were going into the black hole.' ‘Evacuate the ship. All unit's to the shuttles. All systems offline.' Fyro said. All screens went black. The emergency lights went on. Fyro didn't even notice. He couldn't believe it. After all those years, this was the end of the Moonlight. A sad hologram face looked at him from the General's screen. Farwell, the hologram mouthed. Fyro took a deep breath. He was not going to let this happen. This was his ship. His responsibility.
While the control room units fled to the shuttles, Fyro kept standing in place.
Tani was the last to leave the room. She looked at him, unsure what to do. ‘Tani.' Fyro said, without looking at her. ‘Tell the Luna Empire HQ that I wanted it this way. I'll try to save the ship. Go.' Tani left. Fyro knew this was going to be his final test. Failure was not an option.
Moonlight Entrance
As soon as Zarine got the message, she opened her oxygen tank and kicked away the plasma screen protecting her from damage. It stuck fast. She tried again. It didn't budge. In a claustrophobic panic attack, Zarine fired a plasma bolt at the screen. That worked. As quick as possible, she ran through the small tunnel ending in the main hall. She could hear a faint roaring noise. The noise of shuttles leaving. Without her. She sat down. She was alone. Or… was she? The main hall screen, showing a map of the ship, normally buzzed with green dots: Lunaians. There was one dot left. In the control room. She ran as fast as she could.
Moonlight Control Room
Through the window, Fyro saw the giant wormhole. It exceeded the beauty of a newborn star system or even a supernova, by far. All sort of colored rings spiraled around a giant white hole. The light almost blinded him, even through the plasma screen windows. He and his ship had fought entire fleets, had managed to avoid damage in comet storm, and had survived supernova's. But his would be his biggest chance ever. ‘180 degrees swirl. Engines at full power.' Slowly, the ship started turning around, like a tamed Sluggia. ‘No progress. Impact in 160 seconds.' A soft female voice answered. Fyro swallowed.
At that moment, Zarine stormed through the door. ‘What is going on? Where is everybody?' she shouted. Fyro didn't even turn around. ‘Whoever you are, sit down and fasten your seatbelt. That is an order.' Zarine, speechless, sat down and strapped herself to one of the chairs. ‘Current situation: We're going to hit a gamma-powered wormhole. Your situation: You missed the shuttles.' Fyro said. He turned around, sat down and strapped himself too. ‘Cargo Item 1, please.' He said. A shining white suitcase appeared in his hands. Zarine, who finally regained mind control, asked him: ‘Are we going to survive this, General?' It took a long time for Fyro to answer. ‘If the wormhole still has his old ability of transporting, we might. But we might be transported to the other side of the Universe, or to a wormhole nearby. I don't know.' Zarine swallowed too.
‘Impact in 5 seconds.' The female voice said. I took forever. Both Lunaians saw their lives pass before their eyes. Then a blinding light filled the control room. They both shut their two eyelids. The ship started shaking. Then suddenly, the light stopped. They opened their eyes. They were crashing into a giant gas planet at full speed. Almost directly, Fyro unstrapped, ran to the General's board, and pushed the red button. The Control Room separated from the rest of the ship, turning into a small spaceship. From their window, they saw the ship, almost as big as the planet itself, slamming into the gas giant. A giant explosion. Gas and chunks of iron flew around the Control Room. None hit them.
Fyro collapsed. Still a little shaky from the g-forces, Zarine unstrapped herself, and ran to the General. His hart was still beating. He had fainted. Zarine looked at the screen. They were heading to a nearby planet. They were going to crash if nobody steered the craft. But she had never learned how to steer a spacecraft. She took the steering joystick in both of her hands. It couldn't be that hard.
As the spacecraft descended through the atmosphere of the planet, Zarine tried to recover all the spacecraft knowledge she had. She remembered something bout voice control. ‘Engines on.' She tried. The computer voice answered ‘Voice not recognized. Please identify yourself.' Shit. ‘Stealth Soldier Zarine, group 12.' She said, trying to keep a calm voice. ‘Not qualified for spaceship control. Explain situation.' ‘The Moonlight has exploded! We're going to collide on the planet's surface!' Zarine was really frightened now. ‘Measurements prove explanation. Access granted.' Zarine sighed. Finally.
‘Engines on.' The spacecraft accelerated. ‘turn 180 degrees.' Zarine guessed. ‘No turning engines available. Impact in three minutes.' Zarine knew there was only one thing left to try; make a belly landing. ‘Full power. Ship horizontal.' The ship started turning around. The surface was getting really close now. The ship made several orbits around the planet, coming closer to the ground every nanosecond. Zarine strapped the General as tight as she could. He was still holding the shiny suitcase. For a second, Zarine wondered what was so important about the suitcase. Then she strapped herself to the chair again. This was going to be a wild ride.
The altimeter dropped faster and faster. The planet was getting a tight gravitational grip on the ship. Thousand feet, seven hundred feet… They were going really fast now. Then the ship hit the surface. A shockwave went through Zarine's body, almost knocking her unconscious. The ship dug its way through the dirt, wiping down several trees. Zarine opened her eyes. A rock formation. With a loud crash, the ship collided with the rocks. Zarine almost flew out of her chair. The ship had finally stopped.
She unstrapped herself and checked for any damage. She was bruised and scratched all over, but she had no serious damage. The General had a scar on his chest, but it wasn't a very deep wound. The captain's second eyelids slid open and he mumbled something. Then his other eyelids opened, too. And with a weak voice, an echo of his former, he asked: ‘What happened?' Zarine unstrapped him and supported him when he stood up. ‘You fainted after the Moonlight collided with a gas giant. We crashed on a nearby planet.' Fyro looked troubled, as if to remember something vague. ‘My ship… it's gone?' Zarine nodded, sadly. She grieved the loss too. It was the biggest ship of their Empire. Without it, The Grox had a much bigger chance of defeating the Lunaians.
With a psh, the door opened. They stepped outside. Harsh sunlight fell upon them, and automatically, they shielded their eyes from the sun. ‘You can let go of me now. I'm fine,' The General said. Zarine let go. Fyro wobbled for a moment, then regained his feet. He inspected the ship. After a while, he said. ‘There's no way we can fly away with this thing. But it should already be sending out an SOS. We might get saved soon.' He looked at Zarine. ‘How did we survive, anyway?' Trying to talk without an undertone of proudness, Zarine told him: ‘I steered the aircraft using voice control.' Fyro blinked. ‘Ah, in that case, I can never thank you enough… O, wait!' He ran into the spaceship again. When he came out, he was holding the suitcase. ‘What exactly is in that suitcase?' Zarine asked. Fyro sighed. ‘If you have to know: Chaosium. A key ingredient for a gigantic bomb the Grox was building. It radiates radioactive waves that destroy all organic material that it touches.' He knocked on the suitcase.' Silver, however, stops the radiation. That's what this case is made of.' Zarine gulped. She had been guarding the most dangerous object in the universe.
They sat down. Fyro said: ‘In the meantime, we have to find a way to survive. We need to find fruit and hunt animals.' Zarine activated her laser weapons. ‘I can take care of that.' Fyro nodded. ‘I'll make myself useful by building tools and other things we need. We can spend the nights in the ship. The plasmasynthesis screen still works. As long as there's sunlight, there's light and warmth.' For a moment, they looked at each other blankly. Zarine stood up. ‘I'll go find something to eat tonight.' She bowed. ‘General.' She added, afraid of being rude. Fyro laughed. ‘You can call me Fyro. And, good idea. I'll start by making a fire.' Zarine nodded and left. Fyro looked at her. ‘I can't believe it…' Fyro sighed. ‘As long as you are safe.' He said to the silver suitcase at his side. He hid the suitcase in the ship and went off searching firewood.
Zarine checked her armour, making sure it was all intact and working. She also checked that the energy crossbow, plasma sword and all other weapons were ready to fire at any moment. When she was satisfied, she settled back in her hiding place and studied the area below her.
Zarine was a Lunaian, a species of blue lizard like humanoids with a reasonable amount of intelligence compared to some other species. She'd been born on the home planet of the Luna Empire, and raised like every other young Lunanian. During that time, her teacher and parents discovered she had a talent for stealth and thieving. So, Zarine was taken to a special school and taught there to become a soldier. This was her first real mission — guarding the entrance to the Mothership Moonlight — and she did not want to fail.
The area below Zarine was where smaller ships could land to access the Moonlight. A variety of ships of different shapes and sizes were scattered below in an organized chaos. A bunch of armed soldiers were down below as well. She knew that in addition to the soldiers, below there was two other Lunaian's, skilled in the same areas she was, waiting and watching just as she was. She knew that unless she got extremely close to their hiding places, she wouldn't be able to see them at all. Same with her hiding place. No one would see her until she had a knife in their throat.
‘Hmmm… I wonder why there are three hidden Lunaians and 25 armed soldiers near the entrance… I know this is the Moonlight, but surely a total of 10.000 Lunaians who can fight would be a bit ridiculous?' Zarine said to herself.
But hardly anyone on board knew of the precious cargo the Moonlight was carrying. And no one on board thought of the best way to kill 10.000 Lunaians.
Moonlight Control Room
‘Status check, Tani?' A well-dressed Lunanian asked to one of the Lunaians behind the computers in the semicircle cockpit of the Moonlight. ‘All systems on. No enemy's spotted in a megameter around our fleet. Starfleet still completely intact. No damaged ships.' ‘That's not entirely true. Ship 5937 has a damaged plasma shield.' Another Lunaian shouted. Fyro rolled his eyes. Roaron always had to interfere.
Suddenly, a red light started flashing on the main screen. ‘Disturbance in sector AIO-849, General.' Tani said. ‘Situation scan, Roaron?' Fyro said, his voice surprisingly calm. ‘It looks like a gamma ray has hit a wormhole, General.' ‘Outcome?' ‘The gamma rays force has centered the wormhole's gravity. Wormholes are nasty things. I'm not sure what will happen. But I have an idea…' his voice faltered away. His blue scales turned a little white, and his eyes ‘What is wrong, Roaron?' Roaron took a deep breath. ‘There's are theory's that states that all wormholes, although they come only in twins, are somehow connected. If the gamma ray has centered the wormhole's gravity, that might mean the wormhole turned into a black hole. The point is, it's a black hole kind we're not familiar with. We're the first ones ever to see it happen.' ‘What does that mean for us?' ‘That the black hole gravity might break through our plasma shields.'
There was an awkward silence in the cockpit. Then Fyro shouted: ‘Code B1 to all spaceships. Retreat to star system length away from this place. We need to get out of here!' The radar showed that all spaceships retreated. Except the Moonlight.
‘What is happening?' Fyro said, his voice shuddering. ‘Our ship is too big to overcome the gravitational pull. Were going into the black hole.' ‘Evacuate the ship. All unit's to the shuttles. All systems offline.' Fyro said. All screens went black. The emergency lights went on. Fyro didn't even notice. He couldn't believe it. After all those years, this was the end of the Moonlight. A sad hologram face looked at him from the General's screen. Farwell, the hologram mouthed. Fyro took a deep breath. He was not going to let this happen. This was his ship. His responsibility.
While the control room units fled to the shuttles, Fyro kept standing in place.
Tani was the last to leave the room. She looked at him, unsure what to do. ‘Tani.' Fyro said, without looking at her. ‘Tell the Luna Empire HQ that I wanted it this way. I'll try to save the ship. Go.' Tani left. Fyro knew this was going to be his final test. Failure was not an option.
Moonlight Entrance
As soon as Zarine got the message, she opened her oxygen tank and kicked away the plasma screen protecting her from damage. It stuck fast. She tried again. It didn't budge. In a claustrophobic panic attack, Zarine fired a plasma bolt at the screen. That worked. As quick as possible, she ran through the small tunnel ending in the main hall. She could hear a faint roaring noise. The noise of shuttles leaving. Without her. She sat down. She was alone. Or… was she? The main hall screen, showing a map of the ship, normally buzzed with green dots: Lunaians. There was one dot left. In the control room. She ran as fast as she could.
Moonlight Control Room
Through the window, Fyro saw the giant wormhole. It exceeded the beauty of a newborn star system or even a supernova, by far. All sort of colored rings spiraled around a giant white hole. The light almost blinded him, even through the plasma screen windows. He and his ship had fought entire fleets, had managed to avoid damage in comet storm, and had survived supernova's. But his would be his biggest chance ever. ‘180 degrees swirl. Engines at full power.' Slowly, the ship started turning around, like a tamed Sluggia. ‘No progress. Impact in 160 seconds.' A soft female voice answered. Fyro swallowed.
At that moment, Zarine stormed through the door. ‘What is going on? Where is everybody?' she shouted. Fyro didn't even turn around. ‘Whoever you are, sit down and fasten your seatbelt. That is an order.' Zarine, speechless, sat down and strapped herself to one of the chairs. ‘Current situation: We're going to hit a gamma-powered wormhole. Your situation: You missed the shuttles.' Fyro said. He turned around, sat down and strapped himself too. ‘Cargo Item 1, please.' He said. A shining white suitcase appeared in his hands. Zarine, who finally regained mind control, asked him: ‘Are we going to survive this, General?' It took a long time for Fyro to answer. ‘If the wormhole still has his old ability of transporting, we might. But we might be transported to the other side of the Universe, or to a wormhole nearby. I don't know.' Zarine swallowed too.
‘Impact in 5 seconds.' The female voice said. I took forever. Both Lunaians saw their lives pass before their eyes. Then a blinding light filled the control room. They both shut their two eyelids. The ship started shaking. Then suddenly, the light stopped. They opened their eyes. They were crashing into a giant gas planet at full speed. Almost directly, Fyro unstrapped, ran to the General's board, and pushed the red button. The Control Room separated from the rest of the ship, turning into a small spaceship. From their window, they saw the ship, almost as big as the planet itself, slamming into the gas giant. A giant explosion. Gas and chunks of iron flew around the Control Room. None hit them.
Fyro collapsed. Still a little shaky from the g-forces, Zarine unstrapped herself, and ran to the General. His hart was still beating. He had fainted. Zarine looked at the screen. They were heading to a nearby planet. They were going to crash if nobody steered the craft. But she had never learned how to steer a spacecraft. She took the steering joystick in both of her hands. It couldn't be that hard.
As the spacecraft descended through the atmosphere of the planet, Zarine tried to recover all the spacecraft knowledge she had. She remembered something bout voice control. ‘Engines on.' She tried. The computer voice answered ‘Voice not recognized. Please identify yourself.' Shit. ‘Stealth Soldier Zarine, group 12.' She said, trying to keep a calm voice. ‘Not qualified for spaceship control. Explain situation.' ‘The Moonlight has exploded! We're going to collide on the planet's surface!' Zarine was really frightened now. ‘Measurements prove explanation. Access granted.' Zarine sighed. Finally.
‘Engines on.' The spacecraft accelerated. ‘turn 180 degrees.' Zarine guessed. ‘No turning engines available. Impact in three minutes.' Zarine knew there was only one thing left to try; make a belly landing. ‘Full power. Ship horizontal.' The ship started turning around. The surface was getting really close now. The ship made several orbits around the planet, coming closer to the ground every nanosecond. Zarine strapped the General as tight as she could. He was still holding the shiny suitcase. For a second, Zarine wondered what was so important about the suitcase. Then she strapped herself to the chair again. This was going to be a wild ride.
The altimeter dropped faster and faster. The planet was getting a tight gravitational grip on the ship. Thousand feet, seven hundred feet… They were going really fast now. Then the ship hit the surface. A shockwave went through Zarine's body, almost knocking her unconscious. The ship dug its way through the dirt, wiping down several trees. Zarine opened her eyes. A rock formation. With a loud crash, the ship collided with the rocks. Zarine almost flew out of her chair. The ship had finally stopped.
She unstrapped herself and checked for any damage. She was bruised and scratched all over, but she had no serious damage. The General had a scar on his chest, but it wasn't a very deep wound. The captain's second eyelids slid open and he mumbled something. Then his other eyelids opened, too. And with a weak voice, an echo of his former, he asked: ‘What happened?' Zarine unstrapped him and supported him when he stood up. ‘You fainted after the Moonlight collided with a gas giant. We crashed on a nearby planet.' Fyro looked troubled, as if to remember something vague. ‘My ship… it's gone?' Zarine nodded, sadly. She grieved the loss too. It was the biggest ship of their Empire. Without it, The Grox had a much bigger chance of defeating the Lunaians.
With a psh, the door opened. They stepped outside. Harsh sunlight fell upon them, and automatically, they shielded their eyes from the sun. ‘You can let go of me now. I'm fine,' The General said. Zarine let go. Fyro wobbled for a moment, then regained his feet. He inspected the ship. After a while, he said. ‘There's no way we can fly away with this thing. But it should already be sending out an SOS. We might get saved soon.' He looked at Zarine. ‘How did we survive, anyway?' Trying to talk without an undertone of proudness, Zarine told him: ‘I steered the aircraft using voice control.' Fyro blinked. ‘Ah, in that case, I can never thank you enough… O, wait!' He ran into the spaceship again. When he came out, he was holding the suitcase. ‘What exactly is in that suitcase?' Zarine asked. Fyro sighed. ‘If you have to know: Chaosium. A key ingredient for a gigantic bomb the Grox was building. It radiates radioactive waves that destroy all organic material that it touches.' He knocked on the suitcase.' Silver, however, stops the radiation. That's what this case is made of.' Zarine gulped. She had been guarding the most dangerous object in the universe.
They sat down. Fyro said: ‘In the meantime, we have to find a way to survive. We need to find fruit and hunt animals.' Zarine activated her laser weapons. ‘I can take care of that.' Fyro nodded. ‘I'll make myself useful by building tools and other things we need. We can spend the nights in the ship. The plasmasynthesis screen still works. As long as there's sunlight, there's light and warmth.' For a moment, they looked at each other blankly. Zarine stood up. ‘I'll go find something to eat tonight.' She bowed. ‘General.' She added, afraid of being rude. Fyro laughed. ‘You can call me Fyro. And, good idea. I'll start by making a fire.' Zarine nodded and left. Fyro looked at her. ‘I can't believe it…' Fyro sighed. ‘As long as you are safe.' He said to the silver suitcase at his side. He hid the suitcase in the ship and went off searching firewood.
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