Theodra
07-07-2007, 21:00
Her gaze was captured by the copious lights that filtered through the dense atmosphere. She had never imagined “space” to be glorious and ghastly at the same time.
She and the Destiny crew had been traveling through the Xian galaxy for a week now. Her eyes still wide at the wonderment that transformed before her eyes. She had not experience not training as a Captain. Although, the crew loved her as they love her father.
Her father, Captain of an elite military ship called Genesis, had numerous pilot ships under his command. One of the exploratory ships, Destiny was given to Farran, his only daughter and living relative.
Her mother, Seraphim, did not want her daughter raised in a hostile environment so on her deathbed she had her midwife raise her soft cooing infant. Farran grew up under the stern, but loving hands of her nana. Farran never knew her mother personally, but felt her always in her heart and in the mirror. It was as if the gods above made an almost perfect replicate of Seraphim as Farran.
Farran’s physique was delicate, graceful and well petite; she stood exactly five feet tall. She had the same hour glass figure her mother had. Her oval face, with its creamy complexion looked paler against her black hair. Her hair framed her face and rested just above her slim shoulders. She would have been a replicate save for her eyes. She had her fathers striking green eyes that melted with soft swirls of yellow.
Now her father was a most stoic man. He stood at the abnormal height of 6 feet 11 inches, when it was typical in this time for men to stand only 6 feet tall. He was a thick solid mass of muscle, but would have softened when giving his daughter a bear hug. His face revealed his long years; it is scarred from past interactions of war and radiation. Although his face began to dim, his eyes bright green would brighten even more when he was with his daughter. He was a man of little words; therefore, when he spoke everyone listened for he did have much wisdom to share. He had been Captain for well most of his life and space was all he knew besides his daughter.
He had respected his wife’s decision not to raise her with him, but he regretted not to be able to share his passion with Farran. So when the opportunity came that his ship Destiny needed a captain he did not hesitate to talk to the crew about training his daughter. He felt she has so much potential to be a great leader. She was compassionate, understanding, loyal, and intelligent. He assumed the safest place for her would be on an exploratory ship with specific areas to research and deadlines. This would help her to later take over his ship after he planned on enrolling her in the Militia.
Farran was quiet as she watched the stars come before her then to be passed and she daydreamed about all the people she would possibly meet. As she blinked and then opened her green eyes she saw a bright white star rise up above and explode into millions of scattered light fragments and then she remembered the last time she saw her father. She had seen her father just before her departure, the memory quite vivid.
Farran pump red lips widened into a smile and she tenderly punched her father’s unyielding arm and let out a musical laugh, which was returned by her father’s deep gargle of a laugh. Quickly his face returned its normal look of calmness, but his eyes dimmed and she saw this.
“Father, I will just be fine. It is in my blood.” She smiled more, hoping it would soothe his nerves.
“And that is what I am afraid of.”
“Father do not worry about me, I lived on my own in Vernon Breta for two years and came out of there with no pieces missing.”
“He laughed. You are your mother’s daughter and you are my daughter.”
He then wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in closer. She rested her head on his chest.
“I shall miss you.”
“I miss you.”
She looked up at him. Clear liquid daring to spill over his lower lids.
She pushed up on the tops of her toes and kissed her father on his forehead, which could be a struggle noticing the height difference.
“I am your daughter and that will never change.”
He returned the kiss, his lips dry and cracked compared to hers.
“Space can change anyone do not forget who you are.”
She nodded.
“Goodbye father.”
“Goodbye my sweet daughter.” In his voice, although he tried to mask it, was a foreshadowing sense that she did not pick up.
She opened her eyes and the shattered star had dissimilated into the darkness.
She whispered, hoping her father could hear her, “I miss you Father and I will always love you.”
It was strange how time could be so different when she thought about it. A day in space meant a year back home. This was something the crew and herself had to come to terms with that it meant all of the people they knew were growing older and dying.
Death was something even in space you could not run away from. There are many unknown dangers out in the open, but know worry to Farran she had believed in fate and it was only a good indication to her that her ship was named Destiny.
A timid voice squalled, “Farran, um I mean sorry, Captain Farran we have just received an urgent message from an unknown vessel.”
Farran looked over at the crewman, “Josep, please bring it up on the screen so I can see it and search for the location of the vessel, when you have the coordinates notify me and I will decide what further steps we take.”
She swallowed what felt like a large lump of bread slowly move down her esophagus and settle in her stomach.
I don’t have a good felling about this. This is not the type of ship that would typically get messages like this and this would be her first time handling a problem with the support of her crew.
Seconds later the message appeared on the screen in front of her.
Her eyes flew over the message quickly and she knew she could not decipher the message. It was an unknown language then the ones she had studied.
“Umm…Captain. I have the message decoded and he is what it says.”
---We need help---our ship attacked----we are going to die---
Without thinking, she spoke clearly and concisely. “We must help them. Josep have you located for the distressed vessel.”
“Josep?”
“Yes, Captain and I can reroute us, but are you certain we should venture to this unknown vessel. The database is not registering the vessel.”
Then a young woman’s voice sounded, “Captain Farran I will aboard the ship if you like.”
Farran smiled and glanced at her loyal friend, she too was the same age as Farran, both of 24 years.
“Phoenix, I would love to go with you onboard,” she was then interrupted by Josep.
“Ahhh! Captain,” his voice growing shrill, “I do not feel good about you going on that vessel I now have an image of it look at your screen.”
The vessel resembled something of a merchant ship, but with strange technology instilled in the craft’s structure.
She had Josep message the ship that they would be boarding and see if they could assist the crew in anyway.
Josep shook his head; if the captain be so daring they would not have a captain at all.
Once they boarded the bridge there was an eerie silence on the ship, the interior dark, but glowed with an opaque radiant blue. The three other crewmen spanned out and searched the rest of the ship, while Farran and Phoenix went to the interior of the ship where Farran expected the crew to be.
She and Phoenix said nothing. The doors in front of her slide open and revealed a man slumped across the floor.
She tried not to recoil from the sight or the stench.
She took a deep breathe and spoke, “My name is Farran and I am captain of the exploratory ship Destiny, can you understand me.”
As she spoke a blue light on the metal fixture on the man’s orange fleshy skin blinked.
Several seconds later a slit opened and a garbled voice came out.
She didn’t understand it, but she continued as she watched the circuits from his left breast plate flash up to his exposed brain.
She glanced over at Phoenix and she looked as surprised as I do.
She motioned for Phoenix to assist her with putting this “computer man” onto the stretched. He did not struggle.
Farran winced as she placed her bare hands under his upper torso and her hands sunk into the flesh.
She looked back at Phoenix who was trying to get his legs to the stretcher. It was as if he had no bones.
After they finally got him onto the stretcher the rest of the searching crew came and said they could find no other signs of other life on board.
Farran looked down at the “man”. Why did your fellow crew desert you? She felt empathy for him to be alone in the vast universe she couldn’t imagine how that would feel and again the lump in her stomach churned. She pushed the feeling back.
Moments later they were back on board Destiny and the medical crew took the man in the unit and starting their assessment on him.
Jesop saw that they returned and smiled up at Farran. “I am so happy you have returned.”
Farran meet his eyes. “Do you not have any faith in me?”
“It is not that I don’t have faith in you, I just don’t have faith in the unknown.”
She nodded, there would be time later to get to know the crew, and turned away to go to the medical unit to see how he was doing.
She came to see that his eyes were closed and the circuits slowed their frequency down.
The doctor notified her they still did not know what species it was and could not figure out what was wrong with it.
As she watched the monitors the man spoke, again garbled, but now she could understand him.
"We are fine."
"Well, I see that you are fine, but the others where are they?"
"We are all accounted for."
"Okay, is there anything you request at this moment?"
"We would not ask the mother unless she knew. We are all fine."
Silence. Farran had not dealt with this species before and she did not know how to react to them.
"We see the future and you have much to learn."
"I am sure I do. I am young still."
"That is not the point. Your fate haunts you and is just around the corner."
"I think we need to have a few more tests ran on you. It is time to get more rest."
"Rest we will. Although, you will not."
Farran walked away, with goose-bumps running up and down her spine. She left the doctors to deal with him.
Her dreams that night left her restless and she woke up tired and couldn't remember her dreams. She walked into the medical unit of the ship to find the doctor covering up the man.
"What happened?"
"He just stopped completely. There were no signs of failure or anything. I am still looking into it. I just don't understand. We are left with nothing."
"We shall salvage the ship and research it."
The doctor shook his head and said, "He was doing so well, I just don't understand. It as if he died in his sleep, leaving us with a lot of unanswered questions."
She and the Destiny crew had been traveling through the Xian galaxy for a week now. Her eyes still wide at the wonderment that transformed before her eyes. She had not experience not training as a Captain. Although, the crew loved her as they love her father.
Her father, Captain of an elite military ship called Genesis, had numerous pilot ships under his command. One of the exploratory ships, Destiny was given to Farran, his only daughter and living relative.
Her mother, Seraphim, did not want her daughter raised in a hostile environment so on her deathbed she had her midwife raise her soft cooing infant. Farran grew up under the stern, but loving hands of her nana. Farran never knew her mother personally, but felt her always in her heart and in the mirror. It was as if the gods above made an almost perfect replicate of Seraphim as Farran.
Farran’s physique was delicate, graceful and well petite; she stood exactly five feet tall. She had the same hour glass figure her mother had. Her oval face, with its creamy complexion looked paler against her black hair. Her hair framed her face and rested just above her slim shoulders. She would have been a replicate save for her eyes. She had her fathers striking green eyes that melted with soft swirls of yellow.
Now her father was a most stoic man. He stood at the abnormal height of 6 feet 11 inches, when it was typical in this time for men to stand only 6 feet tall. He was a thick solid mass of muscle, but would have softened when giving his daughter a bear hug. His face revealed his long years; it is scarred from past interactions of war and radiation. Although his face began to dim, his eyes bright green would brighten even more when he was with his daughter. He was a man of little words; therefore, when he spoke everyone listened for he did have much wisdom to share. He had been Captain for well most of his life and space was all he knew besides his daughter.
He had respected his wife’s decision not to raise her with him, but he regretted not to be able to share his passion with Farran. So when the opportunity came that his ship Destiny needed a captain he did not hesitate to talk to the crew about training his daughter. He felt she has so much potential to be a great leader. She was compassionate, understanding, loyal, and intelligent. He assumed the safest place for her would be on an exploratory ship with specific areas to research and deadlines. This would help her to later take over his ship after he planned on enrolling her in the Militia.
Farran was quiet as she watched the stars come before her then to be passed and she daydreamed about all the people she would possibly meet. As she blinked and then opened her green eyes she saw a bright white star rise up above and explode into millions of scattered light fragments and then she remembered the last time she saw her father. She had seen her father just before her departure, the memory quite vivid.
Farran pump red lips widened into a smile and she tenderly punched her father’s unyielding arm and let out a musical laugh, which was returned by her father’s deep gargle of a laugh. Quickly his face returned its normal look of calmness, but his eyes dimmed and she saw this.
“Father, I will just be fine. It is in my blood.” She smiled more, hoping it would soothe his nerves.
“And that is what I am afraid of.”
“Father do not worry about me, I lived on my own in Vernon Breta for two years and came out of there with no pieces missing.”
“He laughed. You are your mother’s daughter and you are my daughter.”
He then wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in closer. She rested her head on his chest.
“I shall miss you.”
“I miss you.”
She looked up at him. Clear liquid daring to spill over his lower lids.
She pushed up on the tops of her toes and kissed her father on his forehead, which could be a struggle noticing the height difference.
“I am your daughter and that will never change.”
He returned the kiss, his lips dry and cracked compared to hers.
“Space can change anyone do not forget who you are.”
She nodded.
“Goodbye father.”
“Goodbye my sweet daughter.” In his voice, although he tried to mask it, was a foreshadowing sense that she did not pick up.
She opened her eyes and the shattered star had dissimilated into the darkness.
She whispered, hoping her father could hear her, “I miss you Father and I will always love you.”
It was strange how time could be so different when she thought about it. A day in space meant a year back home. This was something the crew and herself had to come to terms with that it meant all of the people they knew were growing older and dying.
Death was something even in space you could not run away from. There are many unknown dangers out in the open, but know worry to Farran she had believed in fate and it was only a good indication to her that her ship was named Destiny.
A timid voice squalled, “Farran, um I mean sorry, Captain Farran we have just received an urgent message from an unknown vessel.”
Farran looked over at the crewman, “Josep, please bring it up on the screen so I can see it and search for the location of the vessel, when you have the coordinates notify me and I will decide what further steps we take.”
She swallowed what felt like a large lump of bread slowly move down her esophagus and settle in her stomach.
I don’t have a good felling about this. This is not the type of ship that would typically get messages like this and this would be her first time handling a problem with the support of her crew.
Seconds later the message appeared on the screen in front of her.
Her eyes flew over the message quickly and she knew she could not decipher the message. It was an unknown language then the ones she had studied.
“Umm…Captain. I have the message decoded and he is what it says.”
---We need help---our ship attacked----we are going to die---
Without thinking, she spoke clearly and concisely. “We must help them. Josep have you located for the distressed vessel.”
“Josep?”
“Yes, Captain and I can reroute us, but are you certain we should venture to this unknown vessel. The database is not registering the vessel.”
Then a young woman’s voice sounded, “Captain Farran I will aboard the ship if you like.”
Farran smiled and glanced at her loyal friend, she too was the same age as Farran, both of 24 years.
“Phoenix, I would love to go with you onboard,” she was then interrupted by Josep.
“Ahhh! Captain,” his voice growing shrill, “I do not feel good about you going on that vessel I now have an image of it look at your screen.”
The vessel resembled something of a merchant ship, but with strange technology instilled in the craft’s structure.
She had Josep message the ship that they would be boarding and see if they could assist the crew in anyway.
Josep shook his head; if the captain be so daring they would not have a captain at all.
Once they boarded the bridge there was an eerie silence on the ship, the interior dark, but glowed with an opaque radiant blue. The three other crewmen spanned out and searched the rest of the ship, while Farran and Phoenix went to the interior of the ship where Farran expected the crew to be.
She and Phoenix said nothing. The doors in front of her slide open and revealed a man slumped across the floor.
She tried not to recoil from the sight or the stench.
She took a deep breathe and spoke, “My name is Farran and I am captain of the exploratory ship Destiny, can you understand me.”
As she spoke a blue light on the metal fixture on the man’s orange fleshy skin blinked.
Several seconds later a slit opened and a garbled voice came out.
She didn’t understand it, but she continued as she watched the circuits from his left breast plate flash up to his exposed brain.
She glanced over at Phoenix and she looked as surprised as I do.
She motioned for Phoenix to assist her with putting this “computer man” onto the stretched. He did not struggle.
Farran winced as she placed her bare hands under his upper torso and her hands sunk into the flesh.
She looked back at Phoenix who was trying to get his legs to the stretcher. It was as if he had no bones.
After they finally got him onto the stretcher the rest of the searching crew came and said they could find no other signs of other life on board.
Farran looked down at the “man”. Why did your fellow crew desert you? She felt empathy for him to be alone in the vast universe she couldn’t imagine how that would feel and again the lump in her stomach churned. She pushed the feeling back.
Moments later they were back on board Destiny and the medical crew took the man in the unit and starting their assessment on him.
Jesop saw that they returned and smiled up at Farran. “I am so happy you have returned.”
Farran meet his eyes. “Do you not have any faith in me?”
“It is not that I don’t have faith in you, I just don’t have faith in the unknown.”
She nodded, there would be time later to get to know the crew, and turned away to go to the medical unit to see how he was doing.
She came to see that his eyes were closed and the circuits slowed their frequency down.
The doctor notified her they still did not know what species it was and could not figure out what was wrong with it.
As she watched the monitors the man spoke, again garbled, but now she could understand him.
"We are fine."
"Well, I see that you are fine, but the others where are they?"
"We are all accounted for."
"Okay, is there anything you request at this moment?"
"We would not ask the mother unless she knew. We are all fine."
Silence. Farran had not dealt with this species before and she did not know how to react to them.
"We see the future and you have much to learn."
"I am sure I do. I am young still."
"That is not the point. Your fate haunts you and is just around the corner."
"I think we need to have a few more tests ran on you. It is time to get more rest."
"Rest we will. Although, you will not."
Farran walked away, with goose-bumps running up and down her spine. She left the doctors to deal with him.
Her dreams that night left her restless and she woke up tired and couldn't remember her dreams. She walked into the medical unit of the ship to find the doctor covering up the man.
"What happened?"
"He just stopped completely. There were no signs of failure or anything. I am still looking into it. I just don't understand. We are left with nothing."
"We shall salvage the ship and research it."
The doctor shook his head and said, "He was doing so well, I just don't understand. It as if he died in his sleep, leaving us with a lot of unanswered questions."