"Into the Dark"

Hi everyone, i was digging through my folder full of idea's, looking for a new story to start getting rain-man on and i found this little starter hanging around waiting for some attention. I have always wanted to write a science fiction epic, and i mean EPIC. Even if its just for my private perusal and i never take it any further its still a dream of mine. but anyway i seem to be pretty biased on my stories and subject material, and usually post the rough ones to another website but i decided to change that and get some input from my favorite online community, so without further ado here is a quick pre-face followed by a rough first chapter, please be honest as i haven't got the gears turning 100% on this one and need help finding a direction. thanks !!!

Date-2163 a.d.
Capt. Liona Myar-
reporting from -Tn 2160-
Pre Mission Log-
March 13, 2163-D.O.A.
Destination: anomalous signal originating from system "Wolf-359"
Mission: Investigate a recent ship disappearance that is believed to have something to do with the anomalous signal, as the ship entered the system at 14:55 GST the anomalous signal began broadcasting at a near undetectable frequency,but with great speed and distance, even being detected by probes as far as the Regulus system. Attempts to analyze the frequency result in signal distortion, audio analyzation also proved impossible, it is only detectable through long range, ground based survey instruments, From which one of our research stations within the Alpha Centauri system detected immediately.

-Crew: 15 men and women as follows-4 engineers/2 doctors/4 Heartford Academic Specialists/3 dedicated security personnel/1 petty officer/1 commanding officer

-Private Donors: the Tn 5150 is a Privately owned vessel equipped as a prospecting ship designed to scan asteroids for resources, it was volunteered for this mission by the contracter who constructed it, and manned short notice by the "signals and analysis" branch of the "Heartford of Terra Academic Society"(a sort of clandestine group of Elite Earthborne scholars), Led by United Navies Capt Liona Myar, petty officer Nilo tennix and a small squad of three special forces units.

Date-March 13,2163 850GST
-Captains Entry-"Capt Myar reporting, pre travel checks are all completed..we have been on board the Gol Hannon station located in the Alpha Centauri system for three weeks refitting the Ithmus and making her even slightly up to date electronically, as it stood beforehand it was nothing more than a pleasure yacht with lots of windows. We have met with the Heartford team and i am not impressed, as usual a few snotty scientists and some over moral teachers who think they know better, of course and they are bringing a nineteen year old on board. as far as My team goes we received a United navies Licensed mercenary squad as high command didnt want any low level military personell involved with the operation. as well as petty officer tennix who i handpicked, he is fresh out of Navigators school ready to get his ass handed to him in reality.To the mission, we will be investigating a missing cargo ship that decided to break trade enforcement guidelines and take a shortcut through wolf 359 and attempt to run for their destination on the other side, unfortunately for them the sun "ignites" for lack of a better word at random ,frying any ships within a few billion miles, this is our suspected culprit but we wont guess for now.Now at the same moment we lost contact with the cargo ship, we began receiving an odd signal from all of our major radio observatories surrounding wolf, even earth picked it up. Upon analysis our "heartford" friends have deduced the signal is not natural and is in fact artificial in origin, UN shared this info with the ships owner mr.lee and here we are. so this stupid Capt is probably sitting on emergency systems,drives fried praying somebody will find him soon. the dossier says the crew was 31 contracted men with 5 passengers, the cargo was some Wealthy patrons art collection apparently with some servants and butlers of his also.The ships owner Ophir Lee is a religious leader responsible for the establishment of multiple orbiting colonies in the system "ross 248", he also invests heavily in asteroid mining apparently and has titles to 3 prospects in the system over the 30,000k range.I have been informed he is responsible for the donation of the ship and funding of the Rescue effort, all in all we're risking dead space, and im not sure if its for that signal, or the #ty captain and the cultists art collection.I am calling the crew aboard at 10gst to launch,i will submit a report upon arrival at Wolf.-Capt myar out-
---reporting from the (Tn-5150) March 13,2163 850GST



Date-July 21st,2163 --1732GST
Manual Captain Log Entry #1
We have just dropped out of slip space and arrived at the farthest edge of the system Wolf-359, we are underway attempting to deploy and coordinate probes to search for the cargo vessel, we still can not detect any odd signals like ones described by the survey sattelites,we will continue to search as it appears we have some dead zones present throughout the system, will report back with further details-Capt Myar out-
---reporting from the (Tn-5150)

Date-July 23rd,2163 --2315GST
Manual Captain Log Entry #2
After two days One of the probes has finally picked up an unidentifiable signal on the far side of the system, it is emanating from a dead zone and we cant get any visual, we are low on probes and cant risk sending it to investigate. Our priority is to first find the cargo ship.On the upside i think we found our mystery signal.
---reporting from the (Tn-5150)

Date-July 24th,2163 1430GST
Manual Captain log Entry #3
We have located the cargo ship, we are on route now to investigate, we are receiving no response, the ships computer is attempting to S.O.S. but there is no signal, when we transmit to it it simply sends us broken code ( Engineer Heeuvi says it is indicative of a fried transmitter ). Navigation estimates arrival at 1920GST.
---reporting from the (Tn-5150)

Date-July 24th, 2163 1945 GST
Manual Captain log Entry #4
we have arrived outside the ship, i have ordered the extraction team to suit up for entry via airlock, Signals Manipulation Expert Defen Yueqh has managed to gain control of the "dead" cargo ships computers and can manually open the airlocks, the weird thing is the ship is fine, only the receivers and transmitters are fried, powers fine, life support one hundred percent..no hull breaches.we might have a mutiny on our hands, but why wouldnt they take the ship? they could not have been robbed way out here? a murderer or murderer's on board? we are getting to the bottom of this, i am placing petty officer Tennix and myself on the boarding team, as well as two engineers, Heeuvi and Itor. we're out in thirty.

Liona Tossed the command tablet onto her bed and swiftly hit the small touch panel on her closet, when it opened there was a lime green heavy suit, thick at the neck for the helmet, the material looked soft but it was rock solid, capable of bearing life in space and providing proper support for combat. Liona quickly assembled the suite and activated the pad attached to the wrist, the whole suit seemed to light up. As she left her room switching the light off, she caught a glimpse of an old six shooter pistol sitting on a stand on her desk, after a minute of staring she caught herself with a nod and continued out of her cabin.

As the large bridge door slid open Liona briskly marched into the bridge, shouting "status report!", "nothing new" shouted Defen in his english accent, he was mounted on a stationary chair surrounded by monitors and holographic displays, navigating through them and adjusting charts."wheres the security??", Nilo interrupted,"they are uhm, still in their cabins maam", "well well, 4 months and they still want to sleep?" said Liona,"i'll handle this..." as she stormed down the hallway, Nilo gave a crooked smile to the rest of the crew as the whole bridge instantly relaxed.

Liona slammed the captains code into the security cabins panel, as the door slid open three men were hunkered down at a table between two bunks, playing what can only be described as an outlandish farkle.The Smoke was thick and the captain could hint it wasn't just cigars, "who the hell do the three of you think you are? contribute nothing up to this point and cant even be showered? Is that what i think i smell ?! Did you morons think this was some kind of vacation? Gear up, you have Five minutes or your greasy hides are staying on board with no pay, got it!?"Liona stormed back out into the hallway, door sliding down behind her...."sixteen long weeks, and we just saw the sweetheart, and all of the sudden now the dog comes out to play."-Rigard began to laugh hysterically,"so what'd you do to her Goan?" the other two, specialist Thomas and Seargant Goan sat akwardly silent prepping their gear, Rigel looked around,"what? sayin shes not like a rabid dog now?", "Rigel, sucker me out of pay again and im hitting you in the face,i mean right between the eyes this time, got it? That Liona isn't one to keep pushing!"said Thomas-"wohh just like that time on Cardell right?? get out of here i was only playing"-said Rigel..Seargant Goan stared at him with stern eyes.."alright your majesty, i get it" said Rigel as he began to prep his gear...

"captain i have just picked up multiple signals on board the cargo ship,from the looks of it we have life"-said Defen,"They're comm systems must be down, why else wouldn't they have hailed us by now?"-asked Liona, from the other side of the bridge Engineer Stensen shouted "Captain, i think your gonna want to see this". Stensen brought up a video feed onto the holo-screen..a fuzzy picture of a mans face appeared, he looked erratic and in shock."This is Tel-v8-099 i repeat Tel-v8-099, we are in a full lock-down, we have sick crew members on board and our navigation systems have stopped responding. we thought it was the storm but all systems are at one hundred percent, the Guard suspects sabotage, says he saw tw............" static interrupted, as his face began to disappear off the screen.Liona asked Defen "What the hell is going on? The storm should have fried everything.", "well ma'am i cant get a clear reading from the ships diagnostic component, ill keep digging but something has it totally scrambled" Defen said."Alright, Tennix give one final notice to the boarding team" commanded Liona.

Liona walked up to one of the side consoles punching numbers in, "Heeuvi, Itor.. airlock in five minutes!"- a muffled answer responded with what sounded like "on our way"."Defen, whats going on with the interference, is there a storm?"-"no ma'am i noticed it a couple minutes ago, its slowly been increasing but i thought it was the sun playing tricks on the receivers, the static is getting thicker every second, in about an hour we will be in the dark" said Defen, "are you saying one of those dead zones are forming right on top of us?", "wellll..technically .. yes." said Defen. "Tennix!!" Liona shouted, "get all of the Heartford brats up here, now! we have an issue, a really really big issue!","right away captain" he said as he charged down the bridge hallway.

Liona unclipped her communicator from her belt as she navigated through some charts on a side console,"Dr. Bana, we have reason to believe there are sick on board the cargo ship, you will have to accompany us just in case", "Are you sure its safe for me to go captain?"-asked Bana with static distorting her voice, "you will be fine, the scary part will be the airlock transfer.", "good" said Bana, "i have never fired a gun in my life"."well lets hope today you wont have to bana, see you in a minute.", Dr.Bana put the communicator down as she blankly stared at her trembling hands.

"Captain..Nilo informed me of the situation" said Kaniko, a 37 year old signals analysis professor from Bethesda as he walked into the bridge, "i took a few looks at the pattern in which the data is being scrambled, it isn't from the sun. In fact it isn't natural at all, the interference is precise and has a solid sequence to it,furthermore, it came from that way!" Professor Niko pointed across the bridge, out the window towards the star "wolf"."it emerged and increased in strength in a large vicinity around this and our cargo ship, slowly approaching from that way!!!!" he pointed again, now with an almost happy and panicked enthusiasm.

"Niko, what are you hinting at? is this an ambush or are you suggesting..?" asked Liona, Kaniko pulled out a small device and headed to the front of the bridge, he plugged it into one of the front consoles. A large holo screen appeared over the front gallery with a number of diagrams,he was now sweating profusely "This is like nothing i have ever seen before maam, here is one radio observation of wolf's standard static, now here is the radio observation of our current situation.", the diagrams went from chaotic lines, to straight lines in the next diagram. "So that means somebody is using new tech right, or some unknown natural interference..right?" asked Liona with assurance. "maam.." Kaniko said darkly "there is no way a human being could pull this off" the whole bridge stared at Kaniko silently. " and it is coming, from the same direction as our mystery signal...that...way.." he dramatically pointed again.

"is it Aliens?!" asked Aiden enthusiatically,Aiden was a 19 year old shaggy haired archaeology student brought by proffessor Cozec, he had never left Earth before and was totally unaware the dangers of space save what Four months warping can teach you. "well if you would really like to know what i think, i thi...." Liona interrupted,"I think you should keep that one to yourself while we figure this out professor, first thing's first, we are getting on that ship and doing what we came here to do, clear?"."right, right, plenty of time for speculation....eh later." said Kaniko. " Alright everybody, now that we have had the excrament scared out of us by the professor its time to get this show on the road, you all know what to do so lets get to it." the engineers and tennex all gave a salute and scrambled to their stations, Liona pulled out her communicator again, "Seargant Goan you had better be where i hope you are"the interference was getting much worse now, "yes captain, were here with heeuvi and Itor"Goan replied with a feverish quickness, "good, im on my way". As Liona left the bridge, she turned back to Defen, "we should be sending word back one way or another in an hour, keep an eye out Defen.. i have a bad feeling." "Dont worry maam, this will all be as slick as gosta" said Defen "i hope." Liona resumed her charge out of the bridge.

"Are you seriously ok with the dog queen talking to you like that?" asked Rigal flatly."Let me ask you somethin' Rigel" said Groan in a low voice, "Do you see the stripes pinned to her um..chest?" of course i did, hehehe i.."groan interrupted Rigel,"Did you see the captains insignia on the shoulders?" "yes sir.." Said rigel with embarassment,"12 years in the corps and you've sunken to sexism and mocking a superior? you need to get that flap out of your head quick, we've got a mission, we've got a captain,And a paycheck so shut your ugly maw and just follow orders..Quitly!!"spat groan with a grunt. "yes sir", Rigel said in a low tone as he stared down at his feet."jeez i was wondering when you would you shut him up" said thomas with a glance to Rigel, "Thomas that goes for you too!" shouted groan, thomas simply looked down as well."The ties that bond us" said engineer Itor sarcastically with his japanese accent, engineer heeuvi tried to hold in a laugh.All of the men were sitting in a small room outside of the airlock lined with lockers, with weapons and extra equipment. Seargant groan simply shook his head as he stared out the viewport at the huge dark cargo ship and the little orange ball behind it.

that's all i have for now, any criticism will be appreciated i am on the fence about finishing this one.

reply to post by POPtheKlEEN89


I think its cool popthekleen89,

Its got legs, so to speak,

perhaps switch your distance measurements to AU's (Astronomical Unit) sounds much more spacey,

eg:

"An orange glow glares through the cockpit window from the system star 32AU away, though the cloak makes everything shimmer like water, he can clearly see the mining barges on the belt. Little do they know just how close death watches over them."

I would get lost in the theme of space, heh to big of a play ground to loose my self in


Muzz

reply to post by Ormuz


nice! i get what your saying, im still trying to hash out how to balance details and what to leave to the imagination. As you said its such a big .. UNIVERSE, its easy to get lost writing detail after detail. but thanks for the input i really appreciate it..this is gonna ..take..a..long..time...