Futuristic Against the Cosmic Tide

[Chains]

An Intergalactic adventure between
Chains x The Mechanist
inspired by the combination of several sci-fi games!​

 

[Chains]

Celeste-8 leaned against a wall across from a window showcasing the great expanse and fiddled with a display screen on her wrist with the latest update her system software had received. There had been a recent virus spreading throughout the interweb and it had been a precaution that all android models download the update to protect themselves. It was the work of a hacker, nothing new, and it's purpose was to take over the bodies of androids while erasing their memory data. Celeste-8 had been one of the people who had helped develop it and so far the results had been promising. However, it was only a matter of time before a new virus emerged. It was an endless cycle.

Her eyes lifted from the screen to take in the view before her. The space station, Carrier of Hope, had been repurposed as a hub for species of different planets to converge. No longer as just a place to house humans now that they had found Terra, it had been transformed a thriving metropolis for refueling ships, entertainment and leisure. Sometimes it was overwhelming how fast everything moved within it. Celeste-8 pushed off the wall to start the walk back to her designated room. A call started to come through her system and she answered when the name of the human councilman who represented humans appeared.

"Councilor Torres, what can I do for you? Has someone reported an issue with the update?" Celeste asked as the image of an older man with short dark, greying hair and hazel eyes.

"Thankfully not, Celeste. There is an important meeting happening in about 2 system hours among the council members and I want you there." Councilman Torres replied sternly making the frown lines on his face grow even deeper.

"I'll be there then Councilor. Will you be sending me a debrief on what the meeting is about?" Celeste questioned and Torres nodded his head.

"It'll be sent in a moment. I will tell you that it has to do with the growing concern over what has happened at Bode's Galaxy." Torres answered and after a moment the sound of a message being received pinged in Celeste's system.

"Alright, I'll look over the documents and see you at the meeting." She stated and Torres hung up.

Celeste stood there for a moment and then let out a sigh. Her eyes drifted back up to look out the window again into space and thought about Bode's Galaxy which was three jumps away from Hope. She had a good idea of what the meeting was about. Images recently had swept through the interweb of strange, tiny creatures swarming around inhabitants in great numbers and overwhelming them. Speculation ranged from a new species to a new viral infection to denial. Celeste hadn't developed an opinion about herself, but if she was being invited to the meeting then there had to be some truth to the videos.

She pulled up the documents and began to read the briefing in her mind as her feet carried her towards a different destination.

 

[The Mechanist]

Finariel sighed as he looked at the tablet in his hands, “the hell is this about? They want me to go on some sort of special mission? Why me?” He asked his CO. “Well Fin, you come highly recommended,” said the man. The two in the back of a ship that was transporting them both to a meeting on the executive level of the Carrier of hope.

“And so they pull me off of my current assignment? I left my tools over there!” He said to him.

“Don’t worry, your belongings are being sent back to your cube and that will get transported to the ship.” Said the man.

“But I wasn’t finished…I can’t trust Jenkins to do what I can do, he’s got the brain of a damn hazel nut!” Exclaimed fin.

“Look I know you’re not happy but trust me when I say this mission….its not what it seems….your place in this vessel….its a matter of extinction for all life.”

Fin paused at the news, “boss….tell me…where the hell are you sending me?”

“I can’t tell you….all that will be revealed at the brief.”

“Thomas….am I going to die?” He asked him. “Is this one of those one way ticket suicide missions?”

Tom sighed as he got quiet, not answering his question and opting to instead hand him a weapon case.

“Shit….” Was all Fin said as he took the weapon and put it next to him. “Guess I better make the most of it then….guess it was nice knowing you colonel.”

“Fin come on….you’ll be back. Survival is just….low is all.” Said the colonel.

“Oh yeah that makes it all better….guess if it’s my time it’s my time. But I go out in my terms ya hear? So aside from this pretty gun, I want explosives.”

“Don’t worry Fin, you’ll have a blank check for this assignment….i recommend you spend it well.”

 

[Chains]

The Council Chambers was beginning to fill up as Celeste-8 stepped inside. She caught sight of Councilor Torres and they both nodded to each other in acknowledgement before she went to take a seat. The room was circular with chairs on one side with each assigned to a councilmember, currently there was six that resided on Carrier of Hope so that was the number present of chairs. Overall, every planet or species that needed a representative had one if they wished. It was always expanding, Celeste wondered if they would continue to keep adding members or eventually turn it into a representative just for the different galaxies themselves.

She took a seat in one of the audience chairs with the debrief still pulled up internally.
Bode's Galaxy did not have a representative from any of their planets present. Of course, they were farther away then the others here on Hope so that wasn't a surprise, but the fact that a special team was going to be sent there meant that the council had been in contact and that this was a request from Council Huxley, Council Crassus, Council Wixx, Council Hydrafist and Council Singh. It would take three jumps to get there and hopefully whatever this situation is hadn't escalated yet.

Two system hours passed and the meeting began.

"If we are all settled, I request that this meeting commence." Council Torres spoke out to the room and a the murmurs quieted. "As mentioned in the debrief recently, a summons was sent out from Bode's Galaxy by our fellow councilmembers for aid due to a recent attack from an unknown species. Currently, the conflict in Hoag's Object has caused those within that galaxy to withdraw and Condor Galaxy has refused."

"Like always." One of the councilmembers, MacQuoid, added with a look of anger that caused a few murmurs to return to the room before Torres lifted a hand to return the silence.

"Our plans are to send a crew that currently resides here and, between the three jumps to Bode's Galaxy, pick up four more operatives that have been selected to help by their councilmembers in with this situation along the way. I have requested that our expert infiltrator, Celeste-8, go as our representative." Torres looked towards Celeste and she stood up so that the council members could see her.

"She is one of our best stealth operatives and just today helped launch the software update to protect fellow androids, as well as our technical systems, from the recent virus that has been spreading." Torres praised and a few of the council members nodded as if to agree that she was a good fit for the mission.

 

[The Mechanist]

"Come on this so damn boring..." Fin said to Col. Thomas who sat next to him. "They're talking around the subject instead of getting to the point."

"Relax Fin, I'm sure they'll get there... eventually. Right now they're trying to instill confidence in the council, trying to get them to understand the import of the assignment."

"Get them to understand? You heard Torres, their is an unknown species attacking our allies, our own colonies and the like. Look someone dragged my ass out here, and instead of playing politician we should be getting ready and not wasting time...I'm gonna say something." Said Fin as he got ready to get up.

"Fin don't, that's an order," Thomas looked up at him half pleadingly. "These situations need to be handled delicately... Like those star drive engines you work on. I imagine one small mistake and everything gets blown to hell yeah?"

Fin paused as he looked at him, "come on Tom now you know that's not fair. You can't just go and use engineering analogies on me like that. You know what? How dare you go and try to make politics relatable to my choice of career." Said the engineer with half annoyance.

"So does that mean you'll sit back down and just listen to the meeting?"

"Hell no," Turning back to the podium Fins voice rang out, "Hey! Don't mean to rush you or anything, and while I'm sure your tin miss over there is great and all, just what the hell is going on exactly? Someone pulled my name out of a hat and assigned me to this suicide mission of yours. And I'll be damned if I sit here and listen to all this political bull crap while you all continuously talk around the subject. So answer me, what is attacking our colonies, and why was it so bad that I had to get dragged off of my current assignment for it?"

Fin already knew he was going to be upsetting others with his outburst, truth was the man didn't care. He spent so long dealing with politics aboard starships that he earned a reputation for outright ignoring orders on vessels when it came to maintenance. And unfortunately for those in charge it always worked out in their favor. The man only ever had one thing on his mind, and that was to complete the assignment he was given, then go celebrate said completion with a drink.

"As I asked, why are we wasting time talking about this when we could instead be up in the stars already taking the fight to this perceived threat of yours?"