ISR -- Lotus
Date: 05.09.2020
Written by Courtney Riojas
Photography by Courtney Riojas
[Background:]
A ship called the Lotus was caught in a space anomaly caused by a thermal explosion. They are now far away from home and trying to make their way to familiar space.
The anomaly that pulled their ship also pulled Cervius, an Earther, out of his time and into another dimension where the Lotus is.
[RECAP:]
Conrad's recap
[Decryption Begins:]
At warp speed at the present time. A signal is picked up by certain people on the ship. It appears as if the signal is coming from behind. Some realize after analyzing it, that it is using the same warp tunnel as they are. The gunner decides to fire on whatever is following them, asking Julianne right as he fires. The laser fires. The ship de-cloaks and is thrown out of the warp tunnel. Belial recognizes the ship to be The Blood Swan.
Julianne is wanting to return to ship. Gunner doesn't want to. Julianne decides to have the ship drop out of warp and wait to see if The Black Swan to see if she will follow them.
Usi checks on Osius. He tells him of The Black Swan, and he questions why they are deciding to wait for it. Osius asks to be taken to the bridge. Julianne gives permission as long as he is watched.
The gunner decides to be augmented by Belial. Belial deactivates the Nempoteket and tells him that he will take about an hour. He has new armor and a new suit. The gunner goes to the sim [Note for Clarification: simulation] room to test out his new gear. The gunner tells Belial that he thinks Cervius is not fit to be a Felhammer. Belial disagrees. He returns to his post on the bridge. Julianne informs him that they have detected energy forms in front of the ship.
A portal opens in front of the ship and the ship flys through it. The Black Swan flies through. It is
clearly damaged by the wake of being thrown out of the warp.
They are hailed. Juilianne receives the transmission. The Black Swan addresses them. They want to speak to the Prakkum. Valmara is called to the bridge and sees the bounty hunter on the screen. The Bounty hunter tells her she has a message and sends Valmara a set of coordinates. She tells her also that there is a Marauder 225 that escaped them. Valmara recognizes the coordinates. She requests Julianne to investigate them. Julianne seems willing to allow Valmara to investigate with a couple people.
Cervius tries to be friends with Osius.
They head to a shuttle. They have the Amoranth (a six wheeled vehicle) (Septum and Belial modded it heavily.). They hop into it and fly out toward the coordinates. They reach the planet. She remembers a wood-like structure. There appear to be multiple structures on the planet's surface. They find a circle of twenty wooden structures surrounding a similarly built one in the center.
Valmara requests that they land near the circle. They descend and find the landing difficult because of the huge trees surrounding the area.
The middle structure is not recognizable. They decide to investigate the other structures.
They are in a flat valley-like area. The animal life is simple and not seemingly hostile.
They approach one and this one she recognizes, only her memory seems to be something she remembers from a different angle, as if she were staring up at it from a smaller height. There is a kitchen inside and a three rooms. There is a notebook which mentions her, her dad, and someone named Valan. Valmara thinks she might have lived here.
Usi who is with her recognizes the charred wire frame in the room. It is a Sentinel.
Septum realizes that the planet's vegetation is dying. He knows what the planet is: it is being terraformed into a Sentinel Factory. Belial sends Valmara a memory of a terraformed planet. She is not willing to leave the planet because she wants to find out more about what happened. Septum tells her that they need to leave.
The planet is beginning vibrate, and Valmara grabs another notebook she finds and as much as she can find. She is about to run to the Amoranth and realizes that she has forgotten something. She runs back and grabs the last item on the shelf. She runs back to the Amoranth just as a great Sentinel worm shoots from the surface near her. Belial opens fire. The worm begins to dig again back into the earth. Valmara drops one of the items as she is pulled into the vehicle.
Usi jumps out and and grabs it. He grabs the item and sprints. He finds a Sentinel warrior facing him and sprints in another direction, catching up to the Amoranth which is accelerating. He keeps catching up.
Belial begins to blast at the Sentinels who are chasing Usi. There is a transport that lands in front of the vehicle. Septum launches the rockets. Usi remains on the outside. Beial locks eyes with Usi as he reaches for the outer hatch. He fires in line with Usi as he climbs toward the hatch.
There is a clang on the bottom of the Amoranth. The shuttle is shooting into the atmosphere. Cervius checks what is underneath. There is a Sentinel underneath that fires upon him once he realizes what is going on. Cervius is unable to pull back in time and receives a blow to the face with the weapon.
(Seems to be an aside: Valmara is upset with Septum for his closing the hatch on her when her item fell so she doesn't realize what Cervius is seeing or experiencing.)
Septum looks for any large jutting structure and finds one. He navigates toward it. Cervius still has his head stuck out of the bottom of the hatch. Belial pulls Cervius out of the hatch by the back of his head, just as the rock is approaching. Cervius gets bad whiplash. Valmara grabs things and loses grip, but regains it. She creates a barrier around her, like a shell.
Her belongings are in the shell, battering her as they are tossed around. The main bottom hatch door and the Sentinel are ripped from the bottom of the vehicle. The Sentinel's arms disintegrate and the the rest of its body explodes.
The ship has landed rather badly, crashing into several trees on the way. The back door clangs down and the Amoranth gets inside the bay. It rams into the arm that hold the vehicle.
The Lotus arrives at the planet. Beams from the ship fire upon the surface of the planet, destroying the Sentinels around them. The ground in the circle begins to cave in. A Sentinel cruiser emerges from the surface of the planet.
Julianne hails the ship, and orders them to get to the ship immediately. They begin to fly toward the ship. As they do, space opens up and Matrix vessels show up and open fire on the Sentinel cruiser. The ship begins to have resistance and falls back to the ship. Usi asks the Lotus to tractor beam the ship. They do.
Septum decides to overload the gun and fire.
The ship ends up getting free and gets yanked toward the Lotus. They recover and begin to navigate into the main hanger.
The ship spins and slams into the Lotus' hanger bay. As the door closes, a beam from the Matrix ship fires upon the Sentinel ship.
The Lotus immediately warps out. The Amoranth rolls out of the ship (since everyone is still on it). The ship is damaged and on fire. Fire crew is there, trying to put it out. Usi gives the missing item to Valmara and warns to not be so stupid.
Belial tears off the gun off of the Amoranth and claims it as his.
The jump drive dies, leaving a ringlike mark all across the hangar bay. Septum leaves the hangar.
END OF TRANSMISSION DECRYPTION
Notes:
- Valmara knows some more history. She has two notebooks and as much as she can carry of what was found in the hut.
- She is a little upset that she could not get more information, but hopes that the notebooks and items reveal more.
Who is who:
Belial - Conrad
Julian - Cole
Usi - Torin
Nyx - Josiah D.
Cervius - Josiah R.
Valmara - Courtney
Zeynerx - Peter