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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MSsjVyou59i5yeKjNKsEteBZZUwvrvpqQF3bph3hLfw/edit?usp=sharing
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Alex felt his entire body tingling as not only his mind but his entire nervous system felt like it was being overwhelmed.
He swayed, unable to truly control his body. He vaguely heard a door whoosh open, followed by a voice speaking to him, but the words were nothing more than sonorous horrors.
A moment later, Grant was at his side, looking into his eyes. “Alex, man? What’s wrong? You didn’t appear with the rest of us, and so we split up to find you. Are you… are you alright?”
Alex slowly shook his head.
Grant grimaced and touched a bracelet on his left wrist. “Security Officer to Medical. The Helmsman needs a check-over. Can you find my position?”
An unfamiliar, feminine voice came back, echoing in the air around them. “Understood. I have your position. On my way.”
Alex tuned out the few other exchanges that Grant had, only really tuning back in as the man gasped, catching Alex as he fell toward the ground and helping lower him into a sitting position.
The world around him was awash in meaninglessness.
The other Initiates arrived soon after, clustering around and talking in low voices.
A blonde woman was there, and she held several devices that sent magic through him, waking up his mind with the details of what they were looking for, their magic calling to him as it worked.
One searched his biological body, another his mana and mana flow, and still another seemed to check for any conditions that would only easily appear on a status sheet. The final one specifically targeted his mind… that one actually fritzed.
It wasn’t anything as melodramatic as a catastrophic failure, but the equipment did not like his mental state.
At that point, a notification popped up, bypassing the others that Alex had been ignoring and forcing itself into his mind.
Preliminary QuestDorgon calls for aid!
Dorgon Calls for AidYou are a crewmember of the fleet vessel Innominate, a long-range, strikeforce transport vessel.
Your commanders have called for the troops you carry at the borderworld, Dorgon.
Your task is to get your troops to the beleaguered planet within one month’s time.
Delivered?0/1,000 shocktroops0/20 orbital breach craft0/1 long range transport [Innomminate]
RewardsIn-scenario rewardsMerit to be given at the end of the scenario
Dependent upon success.
Dorgon Calls for AidWill you answer?
Y/N
Apology Tutorial Notice:Failure to accept this quest, or failure to complete it, will result in fleet action against you which will end in all but certain destruction.
Alex groaned, selecting yes with barely a thought. It was a token choice, after all.
The others seemed to have gotten the same mission based on the chatter that sparked shortly afterward.
After another five minutes or so, that calmed down, and Natasha sat down next to Alex. “We have a month, we can take an hour or two.”
Alex looked up and met her gaze. “What?”
Everyone flinched back, not in pain precisely but in discomfort. John grimaced. “Oh, you didn’t lie. That’s… that’s unpleasant.”
Alex pulled himself back together enough to deprive his throat of magical energy. “Apologies.”
That got mutters of acceptance from those gathered around him.
Natasha patted him on the shoulder and gave a consoling smile. “It’s fine. You’ll get the hang of it soon enough. Now. Everyone else will be familiarizing themselves with the ship. I have my station right here.” She held up her left arm, which held a very extensive vambrace that Alex… actually understood. “I’ll be here, doing the same if you want to talk.”
His mind had latched onto her arm and the device she had there. It contained magics of connection to the ship as well as control and direction, allowing the woman to effectively point the ‘eyes’ of the vessel wherever she wished, receiving a copy of the results sent directly into her mind in return.
There was also a very cleverly designed open connection of some sort that would allow Natasha to cast any sensory or detection magic through the device for it to be amplified and utilized by the ship.
Alex was almost pulled from his daze by the majesty of the System created bit of gear.
It didn’t take him too long to realize that he was distracting himself with the tech, and as soon as he noticed that, his mind tried to latch onto his waiting notifications, but he pushed them aside.
The others had already left. He vaguely remembered the medic giving Natasha some instructions as he stared at the Russian’s arm, but he hadn’t really paid attention beyond that. “Natasha?”
She looked up at him, a carefully neutral expression across her features. “Yes, Alex?”
“I… I think I might have killed my wife.”
She rocked back slightly, eyes widening. “That… that is quite the claim.”
And then it all spilled out. The hike, the miscarriage, the odd weakening his wife had experienced, her death during the mad scramble back.
It was surprisingly brief for all that it was, and in the end, Natasha was frowning. “That is tragic to be sure, but surely, blaming yourself—”
He cut her off. “I had an… encounter.” He decided that bringing up Ares would just complicate things. “The result was that I learned something about my odd, Epic race. First of all, it seems like it was something I had before the System at least to some extent. Moreover, not only is it Life based, but it could be passed down in a way that would let my descendants draw Life from others.”
Alex let that hang for a moment. Natasha let out a long breath. “I’ll grant, that sounds… not good, but how likely is that really? Even from how you said it, it sounds like not all your children would inherit your race, and those that did simply might have this trait?”
Alex shrugged. “I’ve no idea. It was simply conveyed as possible. It was possible enough to be asked about.”
She grunted. “I still think it is a leap.” Her frown grew. “But let us assume that you are right. What of it?”
He flinched back. “What of it? I killed her.”
She huffed in disgust. “Hardly. As a wife and mother, let me tell you, that is nonsense. You did not force her to be pregnant,” her gaze went momentarily hard, “did you?”
“No?” He frowned, wondering where she was going with this.
“Good. You did not choose for her to miscarry?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then it is not your fault. You might have contributed a complicating factor, but it sounds like a misfortune killed her as she walked down a path she chose.”
Alex’s gaze hardened at those words, along with his tone, and he only barely kept a reign on the power around his throat. “Natasha.”
The Russian’s eyes narrowed in response. “Yes?”
“You are not blaming her are you?”
She scoffed. “Foolish boy, of course not. A man struck by lightning from a clear sky is not at fault, even if he was on a road that he chose to walk. And he shouldn’t have stayed at home. After all, whatever will be will be.” She shrugged. “No one is at fault when things turn, and many things do. It will be your fault if you languish here and let this ship suffer without you.”
His irritation and rising offense bled away, taking much of his horror with it. In its place, he just felt numb.
Natasha seemed to see the shift within him. “Good, good. You understand. Now, the eyes are afraid but the hands are still doing.”
Alex blinked a few times before frowning. “What?”
She arched an eyebrow. “Did you turn off your translator?”
“No, but I think… Nevermind. What are you trying to say?”
“Don’t let fear, or in this case sadness…” She looked at him again. “or despondency, keep you from moving forward. That often makes things worse.”
He grunted and grimaced. He wanted to find a corner to curl up in to cry… and sleep. Then, when he woke up he could… cry some more, but he knew where that led. He remembered how his life had shattered after…
He couldn’t let that happen, not again.
She wouldn’t have wanted that.
Alex gave a slow, firm nod. “Alright.”
Natasha nodded in turn. “How far have you gotten?”
“What do you mean?”
“Have you looked at any notifications? You aren’t wearing any provided gear. Do you understand your role on the ship? Have you looked at your communicator and control unit?”
He blinked a few more times, feeling like his eyes were getting over hydrated of late. “No?”
She sighed. “Well, get to it. I have my own things to be about. From the look of things, the jump drive will take a day to charge, and we’ll have to pick a destination before that time. Until then, there’s lots to get done.”
She pushed herself to her feet, then held out a hand.
Alex only hesitated a moment before clasping her wrist and letting her pull him to his feet. “Good, good.” She smiled briefly. “I hope your training was good. Mine met expectations.”
He chuckled. “Because you got what you were told you would get?”
“Yes.”
“It was…” He briefly tried to think back for a way to summarize the… oddities. Instead, the left side of his face twitched uncontrollably, and his thoughts were shunted away. He shook his head and cleared his throat, deciding to just move on. “It was eventful.”
Natasha’s eyes narrowed. “Should I call the medic? You look like you just had a minor stroke… or something like that.”
Alex waved her off. “It was mentally trying, and I was advised to not think about it too much for a few days.”
“Odd… but I suppose that’s not the oddest thing we’ve experienced.” She looked around in an obvious show. “By the motherland, we’re in space.” She hopped up and down. “And there’s gravity with no spin. That alone is worthy of note.”
Alex gave a half smile. “I suppose you’re right.” He took his worries, concerns, and other issues and set them aside. In his newest packet of memories, he found knowledge of where his sleeping area was. “I’ll go handle my own onboarding.”
“Good, good. I will see you on the flight deck soon, yes?”
“Yeah. I’ll come and connect with you there.”
She simply nodded and turned, walking away toward her post.
Alex sighed, doing his best to master his thoughts. Unfortunately, as he cleared his mind, he began to pick up a subtle… something in the air.
It felt like a whole crowd was whispering just slightly too quietly for him to understand, and it was coming from all around.
It took Alex a moment to realize that it wasn’t originating with his ears. Instead, it was his Mana Sense that was providing the flow of information.
With that knowledge, he began to understand.
This ship was filled with magic of various kinds, and he was picking up the residual mana from each of those myriad functions.
Still, most of it was far too advanced for him to actually be able to sense properly—after all, his Mana Sense was still rather rudimentary—leaving him with the vague buzzing, indicating the presence of magic.
Alright. I just need to categorize it that way, teach my brain to interpret it as such, and I’ll be more aware of the presence of magic nearby, even if I can’t understand it.
As he walked to one wall of the large room, he bent his mind in that direction. When the door whooshed open before him, he felt some of the magics rise in prominence slightly, and he was almost able to catch what they were doing.
They opened the door, Alex. He shook his head, chuckling. Still, he was seeing the movements of a work-crew and assuming that a simple command had gotten them moving. It was equally possible—maybe even more likely—that quite detailed work-orders and instructions had been given to bring about the rather simple results that he was seeing.
Regardless, the open door exposed a long, wide hallway, being some six feet across and seven high.
It was a bit cramped feeling due to the lower than usual ceiling, but the width meant that even those passing at speed—or burdened with tools or materials—should be able to pass with ease.
It wasn’t a long walk to his sleeping area down the unchanging hallway. The door was on his right and was much smaller than that hallway spanning exit from the storage room.
He knew from his granted memories that another short walk further down the hall would bring him to his duty-station.
He would go there soon enough.
The smaller doorway opened with another whoosh of air and magic, exposing a very small space.
It was an eight foot cube, being a bit taller than the hallway.
A single bed was one half and a walkway, the other.
That was it.
He stepped inside, taking in the sapphire blue blanket over white sheets, the pillow arranged so his head was away from the door.
Atop the bed were three items of note.
First was a full-body suit that reminded Alex of the one that Ares had been wearing. Was he just matching the scenario?
He hadn’t looked closely, but he hadn’t thought that anyone else had been wearing such.
He grunted. He’d look closer in a moment.
The second and third items were a pair of bracelets of clearly magic-derived technology.
Just as with Natasha’s single vambrace, he was able to get quite a bit from the magics within, though it was more difficult without them activated.
The magic mostly amounted to location tracking within the ship, communication—both short and long range—and controls for guiding the ship when away from his post.
Huh. It seems that we can fulfill our role from anywhere, but I would bet our post has more fidelity or other benefits. In fact, as soon as he had that thought, he knew it to be true, his fictitious training kicking in.
No, don’t think of it as fictitious. We’re here, and we need every advantage.
With a nod, he allowed the door to close behind him, ready to go over his notifications.
He wanted a place to sit, and unconsciously reached out and tapped a part of the wall, causing a chair to extend from the seemingly solid bulkhead.
Alex grinned, sitting down in the surprisingly comfortable seat.
He let out a little groan of contentment. I might have to take this when we leave…
He shook himself. He was getting distracted, and he needed to catch up on everything.
By the feather of a phoenix, he wanted to check his class options and see if he’d gotten offered anything better now that he’d been trained by—
His head jerked to the side, and he grimaced. “Maybe that can wait til later, but notifications can’t.”
With a deep breath and a nod of self-assurance, he turned his attention that way.