Space Station Zero

The crew of the Aglaope were moments ago jumping into hyper-speed to answer a distress call of an allied warship and now they find themselves in silence in the shadow of Space Station Zero. As they try to make sense of their sensors and the reality of their cataclysmic change of coordinates dawn’s heavily upon them, the hail to dock with Space Station Zero echoes out across the bridge and then again across the whole ship.

Commander Karenina ordered that the pilot bring them in to dock with the station. Through the viewing portal they see the immense scale of the station and then the dozens and dozens of ships also docked there come into focus. None of the classes of ship look familiar to the crew and the ships computer is drawing a blank also as their, more machine than sister, pilot P8E brings the warship into position to dock…

Veteran Soldier Lennoxi fires up her Ablative Shield to test it; expecting trouble as she and the away team gathers at the docking point.

Soldiers Corraxi and Galadrix look at Lennoxi in awe and envy. They look at the battle honour scrolls trailing from their armour and look at the lack of them on Lennoxi and secretly dream of the day that they would become veteran class. Once you reach Lennoxi’s level of veterancy battle honours become meaningless because the very mention of your name conjures stories of valor that anyone in the crew or even on their home world can easily recount.

Mercuria and Rosalindi approach the docking point engaged in a heated exchange about how pointless everything was now that they were so far from home. Rosalindi the firey ship’s scientist swings her mace-like detection scanner around threateningly towards the hardened combat medic Mercuria to defend her point of view… when suddenly Commander Karenina boldly clanks onto the scene and thrusts herself between the two.

“Do you not think I have the same sinking feeling of futility in my bossom? Do you not think that I worry about what we will do next? But that is my burden and my duty and I WILL decide what is best for us. I’ll do my duty, now you do yours by piping down when I tell you to and get prepared for out next challenge.”

Lennoxi tested the safety catch on her trusty bolter and the sound snapped everyone to attention.

“You heard the Commander, bitches. Settle down. Wherever we are… We’ll need to watch eachother’s backs and bickering won’t solve… hang on?! What the witches crutch are you doing here Patty?”

The Pilot P8E (Patty to her friends) bowls onto the scene with a huge energy carbine in her strong robotic arms and smiles at the swear words being thrown around by Lennoxi.

“What does it look like? You’ll need my razor sharp reactions rather than your blunt vicious tongue if there’s anything nasty through that door…”

Lennoxi glanced a protest with her eyes towards the Commander, it not being in regulations to have your best pilot on an away mission. But the Commander shot her a glance back that told Lennoxi that this decision had already been made and that any protest was a waste of breath. Lennoxi just shrugged and tested her safety catch again instead.

The sensors said that the air beyond the door was breathable, but sensors were hampered by interference and it wasn’t clear what threats might be out there beyond just a few feet.

Commander Karenina walked to the docking point and the crew respectfully fell out of her way one by one as she reached the sealed hatch.

She looked around at her crew and saw the stress and concern in their eyes drift away and their honed military training began to rise to the fore. Their eyes coming into strict focus on the job at hand. She was proud of them. The hatch wheel span as the computer took over and the door prepared to open.

What the crew didn’t know… And probably only P8E could possibly have known, being linked into the computer at the helm… Was that the ship’s engineer Evelynora hadn’t been left on board to defend the ship as the Commander had intimated, but was missing as soon as the ship fell out of hyper-speed. Missing and thought to somehow have been vanished from her post in engineering to an unknown location, hopefully still in one piece, on the outwardly inviting sanctuary of Space Station Zero.

Their geography and the physics of the situation were soundly set against them, but the Commander liked the chemistry and tenacity shown by her crew these last 10 war-littered years and history would smile on them what ever tests they were about to face….

The team strode on to face their fate…