Pilot a Wheelship among the four worlds of the Wheel, and find your way to victory. Friendship and love you might have to forsake: the life of a Wheelship captain is a lonely one.
A Lonely Voyage: Multiversal Shipping Quest
- Thread starter Evenstar
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
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Statistics (3 threadmarks, 5.3k words)
User Total Evenstar 3
The Captain And Her Ship
Evenstar
Triple Jump Unlocked
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You are the Captain of the Wheelship Spine of the World, first of its kind among the Planes. To combat the Shadows' encroaching threat, four worlds made an alliance; to share resources through the use of season-bound Wheelships like your Spine. With each turning of the wheel, you will be ripped from one world and dragged into another, allowing you to share the worlds' resources amongst them. You will be far from home. You will not see those you become close to often. But you may save the Wheel from the Shadows that seek to tear it apart, and that may be enough.
What world do you hail from, weary wanderer?
[ ] Axilla, land of Lightning. A world of powerful magic, where the great mages can harness the fury of every storm to good intent. A place that understands the Energy inherent in all things.
[ ] Altra-Cevra, land of Metal. A world of digital masterpieces and scientific wonders, where starships roam the night skies. A place that knows the power of Data.
[ ] Shadesgarden, land of Starlight. A brutal world ruled by blood and the contract, where slaves work to grow the black-glass Takkarash-flowers. A place that wields Sacrifice eagerly and well.
[ ] Minre, land of Earth. A wild world of faith and cultivation, where masters instruct their pupils well. A place that appreciates the vastness of Time.
Which of the four great Elements do you have affinity to, in addition to your knowledge of the Element of your homeworld?
[ ] Starlight. You speak softly and move quietly. You are ruthless when you need to be. You are like the starlight: beautifully cold.
[ ] Lightning. You are vigorous and cheerful, at times excessively so. You are intelligent and resourceful. The lightning hisses behind your eyes, and sometimes it tries to leap from you.
[ ] Metal. You are precise and clear-thinking. You act when it is time to, and not before. Discipline is easy for you. Like Metal, you are hard and unyielding.
[ ] Earth. You are enduring and reliable. You take things each in their turn, and are able to continue long after others would falter or fail. Like Earth, you are strong and stable.
What world do you hail from, weary wanderer?
[ ] Axilla, land of Lightning. A world of powerful magic, where the great mages can harness the fury of every storm to good intent. A place that understands the Energy inherent in all things.
[ ] Altra-Cevra, land of Metal. A world of digital masterpieces and scientific wonders, where starships roam the night skies. A place that knows the power of Data.
[ ] Shadesgarden, land of Starlight. A brutal world ruled by blood and the contract, where slaves work to grow the black-glass Takkarash-flowers. A place that wields Sacrifice eagerly and well.
[ ] Minre, land of Earth. A wild world of faith and cultivation, where masters instruct their pupils well. A place that appreciates the vastness of Time.
Which of the four great Elements do you have affinity to, in addition to your knowledge of the Element of your homeworld?
[ ] Starlight. You speak softly and move quietly. You are ruthless when you need to be. You are like the starlight: beautifully cold.
[ ] Lightning. You are vigorous and cheerful, at times excessively so. You are intelligent and resourceful. The lightning hisses behind your eyes, and sometimes it tries to leap from you.
[ ] Metal. You are precise and clear-thinking. You act when it is time to, and not before. Discipline is easy for you. Like Metal, you are hard and unyielding.
[ ] Earth. You are enduring and reliable. You take things each in their turn, and are able to continue long after others would falter or fail. Like Earth, you are strong and stable.
The Nine Candidates
Evenstar
Triple Jump Unlocked
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- She/Her
After years of preparation and hope and work, you've done it. Out of the twelve Crew Candidates, the Academy has selected you to be Captain. You, and you alone, will have the final authority over everything shipboard.
And that means it's time for you to finally meet your vessel, and the remaining nine candidates to be your crew.
That's why you've come here, to the middle of the Bahri desert.
You look out from the side window of your car, but you can only see red sand, the occasional cactus, and the dark clouds slowly building in the sky. The air is still dry, but it won't be for much longer.
The Academy driver chuckles. "We'll be there soon enough, don't worry."
You settle back into your seat, and drum your fingers on the windowsill.
Eventually, the flat horizon is broken by a tall metal spire. The Spine. Not a ship in the traditional sense of the word, but a piece of this desert that will be ripped out and shunted entirely into another world.
Soon after you can see the Spine, you come to a perimeter fence, metal crosslinks with barbed wire along its top. The driver slows, and you show your ID to the gate guard. Captain Lily Silveraith, 26, Academy Detachment. 6'0. Eyes: Grey, Hair: Violet.
He tips his hat to you. "Pleasure to have you finally here, Captain."
"Likewise."
He waves you through, and the car continues towards the base of the spire. It must be ten stories tall, all covered in runes and coiled in wire of a tremendous gauge. Around it, a perfect circle of land has been cleared, leaving nothing but bare desert. It crackles with electricity already, arcing out into the sand and sky.
Your car pulls up at the edge of the cleared area.
"From here it's foot traffic only, Captain."
You nod. Anything unaccounted for brought into the tear zone could end up… anywhere. Best not to risk it.
You step out of the car with your briefcase in hand. The red sand grits under your feet; you can hear a high whine in the back of your skull, and taste metal in your spit. You swallow, and keep moving.
At the tower base, the nine remaining Crew Candidates stand at attention in a neat row.
"Captain!" Barks out the closest of them, and all of them salute.
You salute back, and take a moment to survey their faces. Though they all wear the crisp black uniforms of the Academy, the nine candidates couldn't be more different from each other. Half and half men and women, three for each affinity save your own Starlight one. Six of these fine men and women will go home today as failures. The other three will be your crew.
You start with the Lightning affinities.
"December Morning-Glory."
A blue-haired woman wearing a labcoat over her regulation uniform answers. "Yes Captain!"
You nod. "At ease, all of you. December, you're known for your outbursts of technical and magical genius, yes?"
"Yes, Captain, though I'm generally able to control them now."
"See that you don't get carried away while working on my ship."
She nods, and you go on to the next candidate. "Hannah Ashford."
A woman with dark brown hair and piercingly blue eyes gives you a lazy salute. "Yes captain."
"I understand that you came up from the slums and have had some discipline problems. You are to obey my orders when aboard my ship, is that clear?"
"Crystal clear, Captain."
"Good." You turn to the last of the Lightning candidates. "Valerie Crawford."
A slight woman with steel-grey hair nods to you. "Yes, Captain."
"I understand you can get lost in your technical projects for days. That's all well and good, but I won't have it on my ship."
She nods. "Understood, Captain."
"One of the three of you," you say, "will be responsible for the most important job on this craft; bringing us home again. You will be held to the strictest of standards in this final round of testing. Be your best selves."
"Yes, captain!"
"The three of you are dismissed while I attend to the Metal and Earth groups. I know you have preparations to make."
The three of them bow, and then make off at a trot.
"Metal group," you say, and look over at the three men it consists of. "Johann Ainsling. Jerome Sinclair. Edward Gardener. As the opposing element to Lightning, it is your role to rip us free from this plane and fling us to another. I do not want to have to explain to the Academy why my very expensive Wheelship didn't do anything! Therefore, your job is critical. I could go through your faults just as I did for the lightning candidates, but I believe in your case it's more interesting to list your specialties. Johann Ainsling."
"Yes, Captain!", barks a short, dark-haired man.
"You're a bright spark, aren't you? I've heard you helped to design the Spine of the World's Boundary Zone, which keeps us together 'in flight.' As a technician, your record is exemplary."
"Thank you, Captain!"
"Jerome Sinclair."
A silver-haired man bows slightly.
"You, I hear, have come up through the tradecraft program, specializing in asymmetrical warfare and assassination. If we find ourselves in Shadow-controlled territory, your skills could be invaluable."
He smiles. "Thank you, Captain."
"Finally, Edward Gardener."
He pushes up his glasses. "Yes, Captain!"
"You're from the political and xenocultural programs, yes? You're a smooth talker and a scientist both. Who knows what you have hiding in that brain of yours?"
He coughs. "Captain, you're too flattering."
You nod. "But you say 'Yes Captain' anyway. You three, dismissed. You have work to do as well."
They bow, and head off in the opposite direction to the first group.
"Lastly, the Earth group."
You look at the three who are left, two women and one man.
"Rose Crawford."
"Here, Captain." Your old friend from the Academy keeps her green eyes fixed forwards.
"It says here that you got top marks from technical school and have a perfect disciplinary record. Is this true?"
"Yes, Captain!"
"At ease." You look at the other two candidates.
"Leo Pullman," you say to the thin and lanky man.
He nods. "Yes, captain."
"You're a highly trained negotiator and diplomat, assigned in the hope of improving relations with our transdimensional allies, yes?"
"Yes, captain."
"Finally, we have you, Ashley."
"Ashley Haverness," she says. "Qualified with top ranks from the engineering school due to her ability to work under some of the hardest work conditions in the world and to improvise simple solutions from existing tools and materials. I know what my Academy file says as well as you do, Captain."
You half-smile, conceding the point. "Then I won't keep you here to listen to it. Dismissed; I'll come follow up with individual interviews soon."
They turn and start jogging away, and you smile.
You're in command of your ship.
After a moment's contemplation of that, you turn and head towards the spire yourself. You have to make sure she's shear-ready, after all. First component to check: the translation core.
As you step into the spire, the taste of metal in your mouth and the thrumming in your bones cuts out all at once, leaving you in silence with your own footsteps, as if all the rest of the world were gone already.
Descending to the translation core, anchored in the rock beneath the base of the spire, you step into a pleasantly cool room filled with banks of computers arrayed around the largest power crystal you've ever seen or possibly even heard of. It thrums, a gentle bass note that repeats every two seconds or so.
December looks up from one of the computers, and snaps off a salute. "Captain!"
You salute back. "At ease. Checking the engines?"
December nods. "And in case you worry about my skill in this critical area, captain, I want to assure you that I'm the best qualified on this vessel to do this. I was only passed over for Captain because of my condition, or so my friends in the Academy say."
"You condition. You mean the fits?"
December nods. "If it weren't for my fugues I would be a poorer woman, Captain, but the lack of control of them is…"
You nod sympathetically. "It's frustrating to feel like you've been ruled out because of something you had no control over."
"Yes, Captain. It's very frustrating."
"Well, I'll do my best to judge you fairly."
"Thank you, Captain."
You make sure of December's results in about twice the time it took her to produce them; by then she's long gone, off to another part of the ship. So. Second; the warding that holds the ship together.
The ward generators sit at the inner edge of the tear zone, protecting the spire from the violence that will be unleashed on reality by its engines. It's a short walk up and out from the engines, but it does put you back out into the metal-tasting ears-ringing translation zone. You fight back the urge to spit, and settle in at one of the silver-domed ward generators, half computer, half runic array. Let's see, diagnostic sequence twelve…
That's when you hear footsteps behind you. You turn, and see Johann.
"Oh," you say. "Of course you'd be checking the ward system."
He smiles. "Yes, Captain. It's my pride and joy, and I'm not going to let anyone else give the final word on it but me."
"You're a bit possessive of it, aren't you?"
"Yes, Captain. That would be because it's mine."
You laugh. "And the ship's, of course."
"And the ship's. But I designed and built this system. I know what's best for it."
"Excuse me if I don't take you at your word."
Johann shrugs. "Whatever you want. I'm done with this module."
You nod. "I'll do it the slow way."
"That's your right, Captain." Johann snaps off a salute and trots off towards the next generator.
The dark clouds are beginning to rumble by the time that you finish examining the ward generators, so you duck into the spire and lay your briefcase on a table in the command room. Next to check… the computer systems that hold scientific and cultural data. They're right here under this table, actually, masses of exposed wires digging into both circuitboards and violet power crystals.
You bring up the table's display, and tap through a number of key diagnostics on the crystalline surface; then Leo and Edward come in.
"Oh, Captain," says Leo, and they both salute.
"At ease," you say. "I've just been checking over the scientific and cultural databases. I take it you two are here for that as well?"
Edward nods. "Scientific for me, cultural for Leo."
"Then I'll leave you to it," you say, and pick up your suitcase again. You're beginning to crave some peace and quiet on this ship.
Having finished with the core subsystems of the ship, the order for the rest of the examination is up to you. So you choose the most quiet of all of them; raw materials storage, kept up on the fifth floor of the tower, far away from anything else.
After a cursory check to make sure that all the violet-glowing energy crystals are properly racked, you go out and stand by the window. Outside, the stormclouds roil, not yet raining, but threatening.
That's when Hannah comes up the ladder behind you.
"Oh, Captain!" She flushes. "I wasn't expecting to find you here. If you wanted to have the place to yourself…"
You sigh, and wave it off. "It's fine, I ought to be attending to my other duties anyway."
Hannah shrugs. "You can't always be a machine for the job. Leave that to the computers."
"I suppose I can see the logic in that."
"We're going to be together for a year before we ever see anyone else we know again. It's going to be a long mission. You can't stay a robot that long; believe me, I've tried."
"You seem awfully confident you'll make the grade."
"You seem awfully confident I won't."
"I'm the one who hands out the grades."
"And I'm going to win you over." Hannah smiles and bats her eyelashes.
"Get back to your post."
"Alright then, Captain."
Hannah descends back down her ladder, and leaves you alone again. You sigh. You'd be a hypocrite to stay here any longer, and it doesn't seem like you'd get any privacy anyway.
You climb down the ladder to the fourth floor, and find Jerome working on the miniature Tesla Cannons the Spine has for point defense.
"Of course an assassin would want to check their weaponry before starting a job."
Jerome turns and salutes crisply. "Of course, Captain. I wouldn't dream of leaving home without them."
"You're educated on the specs for these, then?"
"And I know their operation inside and out. Only a fool would fight with weapons he doesn't understand, and I am not a fool."
You nod. "About your business, then."
He salutes. "Captain."
You descend another floor, and find Valeris checking through the onboard analysis equipment. She doesn't look up. "Captain."
You nod. "How did you know it was me?"
"Reflection in the desk. Do you have something to say?"
"No, carry on."
"Yes, Captain."
Another few floors, and you come out next to Ashley, who's working on one of the four crystal-powered motorcycles.
"Captain," she says. "Just thought I could tune this up a bit more."
"Candidate," you say. "Carry on."
The one candidate that you actually want to see right now has escaped you; Rose is nowhere to be found.
Where would Rose be, you consider. Nowhere I've been… Checking the engineering tools?
You go and look, and sure enough, you find Rose taking stock of all the assorted engineering hardware on the ship, from pneumatic jacks to circular saws.
"Rose," you say.
"Captain," she replies coolly.
"It's been years since I last saw you."
"And now you've been promoted over me."
"I have."
"Strange old world, isn't it?"
You nod. "Strange indeed."
"I trust you not to show me too much favoritism for the Earth slot," she says. "Please don't disappoint me."
"Are you saying that the others are better qualified?"
"No, I'm saying take the person who you genuinely think will be best for the mission. I want to earn my way in, not be pushed in just because you know me."
You nod. "Alright."
"Is there anything else you need?"
"There is one thing," you say. "Final charging."
"You think we can catch this storm?"
"I think I want to see if we can."
"I'll call the crew."
"Meet me in the command center in five minutes."
You quickly make your way to the command center, and bring up the integrated command environment. Little tags of energy in all your crew's uniforms begin to sing out to you, and with a gesture, you command them all to gather before you. You hear the distant buzz of a phone, and smile to yourself.
The crew assembles inside five minutes, including Rose, and you get up from your command chair in order to speak.
"Final charging requires a storm to catch. This one is available. Let's catch it so that we don't have to wait for another one."
"Rose, Hannah. Manage the capacitor banks. December, Jerome. Manage the main power core. Valerie, you're on ritual duty as the last Lightning affinity; Leo, back her up with Earth. Johann and Ashley, you're managing the shields. Edward, make sure the computer system doesn't do anything it oughtn't. Everyone has their assignments? "
"Yes, Captain!"
"Let's move, people."
You, Leo and Valerie walk outside the Spine as you notice the clouds start pouring in earnest, the Spine's systems slowly gearing up to receive the power of the ritual. You can already smell the ozone in the air.
Johann calls to you from the shield generators: "We're ready!"
"Switch the shields on in Lure mode!"
With a crackle, the faint shimmer of the lightning rod field springs up around you, forming a channel for the coming lightning down towards the Spine. The Spine glistens brightly against the dark sky, insulated and ready to catch the coming charge.
As you watch, Leo and Valerie start whispering incantations under their breath, barely audible beneath the pitter-patter of the rain. You bring up your command interface, and check in by radio.
"Rose, Hannah, are you ready?"
"Ready, Captain!"
"December, Jerome, are you ready?"
"Ready, Captain!"
Leo and Valerie's incantations taper off.
You nod to Valerie. "You have the go signal."
Valerie smiles softly, and begins. "On this day, we create a ship unlike any before it, that can withstand being torn between the worlds."
The rumbling of the storm grows ever louder, faraway lightning flaring over the ritual space off and on.
"We forge a symbol of our mastery over the energy of this world, to go forth and gain yet more."
By now, from horizon to horizon, all you can see are storm clouds dark as dusk, constantly crackling with energy.
Leo steps up. "We stand here, as lords over the heavens and the earth."
Valerie answers. "We stand here as lords over the storm and the lightning."
Together, they complete the chant: "And we demand it answer our call!"
A flash burns through the clouds, shining painfully bright, and crashes down onto the Spine, engulfing the massive structure of the ship in a blinding pillar of electricity that slowly tapers off to nothing.
When you blink the afterimage from your eyes, the Spine of the World stands unburnt, crackling with new-caught power.
"Well," you say. "I guess it worked."
After the storm passes and a final diagnostic check has been run, you call out your nine candidates again to make your final decision on who will sail out on the first expedition of the Spine with you.
"For Lightning,"
[ ] December Morning-Glory
[ ] Hannah Ashford
[ ] Valerie Crawford
"For Metal,"
[ ] Johann Ainsling
[ ] Jerome Sinclair
[ ] Edward Gardener
"For Earth," you say,
[ ] Rose Crawford
[ ] Leo Pullman
[ ] Ashley Haverness
"The rest of you are relieved of duty and will return to the Academy within a week. Dismissed!"
And that means it's time for you to finally meet your vessel, and the remaining nine candidates to be your crew.
That's why you've come here, to the middle of the Bahri desert.
You look out from the side window of your car, but you can only see red sand, the occasional cactus, and the dark clouds slowly building in the sky. The air is still dry, but it won't be for much longer.
The Academy driver chuckles. "We'll be there soon enough, don't worry."
You settle back into your seat, and drum your fingers on the windowsill.
Eventually, the flat horizon is broken by a tall metal spire. The Spine. Not a ship in the traditional sense of the word, but a piece of this desert that will be ripped out and shunted entirely into another world.
Soon after you can see the Spine, you come to a perimeter fence, metal crosslinks with barbed wire along its top. The driver slows, and you show your ID to the gate guard. Captain Lily Silveraith, 26, Academy Detachment. 6'0. Eyes: Grey, Hair: Violet.
He tips his hat to you. "Pleasure to have you finally here, Captain."
"Likewise."
He waves you through, and the car continues towards the base of the spire. It must be ten stories tall, all covered in runes and coiled in wire of a tremendous gauge. Around it, a perfect circle of land has been cleared, leaving nothing but bare desert. It crackles with electricity already, arcing out into the sand and sky.
Your car pulls up at the edge of the cleared area.
"From here it's foot traffic only, Captain."
You nod. Anything unaccounted for brought into the tear zone could end up… anywhere. Best not to risk it.
You step out of the car with your briefcase in hand. The red sand grits under your feet; you can hear a high whine in the back of your skull, and taste metal in your spit. You swallow, and keep moving.
At the tower base, the nine remaining Crew Candidates stand at attention in a neat row.
"Captain!" Barks out the closest of them, and all of them salute.
You salute back, and take a moment to survey their faces. Though they all wear the crisp black uniforms of the Academy, the nine candidates couldn't be more different from each other. Half and half men and women, three for each affinity save your own Starlight one. Six of these fine men and women will go home today as failures. The other three will be your crew.
You start with the Lightning affinities.
"December Morning-Glory."
A blue-haired woman wearing a labcoat over her regulation uniform answers. "Yes Captain!"
You nod. "At ease, all of you. December, you're known for your outbursts of technical and magical genius, yes?"
"Yes, Captain, though I'm generally able to control them now."
"See that you don't get carried away while working on my ship."
She nods, and you go on to the next candidate. "Hannah Ashford."
A woman with dark brown hair and piercingly blue eyes gives you a lazy salute. "Yes captain."
"I understand that you came up from the slums and have had some discipline problems. You are to obey my orders when aboard my ship, is that clear?"
"Crystal clear, Captain."
"Good." You turn to the last of the Lightning candidates. "Valerie Crawford."
A slight woman with steel-grey hair nods to you. "Yes, Captain."
"I understand you can get lost in your technical projects for days. That's all well and good, but I won't have it on my ship."
She nods. "Understood, Captain."
"One of the three of you," you say, "will be responsible for the most important job on this craft; bringing us home again. You will be held to the strictest of standards in this final round of testing. Be your best selves."
"Yes, captain!"
"The three of you are dismissed while I attend to the Metal and Earth groups. I know you have preparations to make."
The three of them bow, and then make off at a trot.
"Metal group," you say, and look over at the three men it consists of. "Johann Ainsling. Jerome Sinclair. Edward Gardener. As the opposing element to Lightning, it is your role to rip us free from this plane and fling us to another. I do not want to have to explain to the Academy why my very expensive Wheelship didn't do anything! Therefore, your job is critical. I could go through your faults just as I did for the lightning candidates, but I believe in your case it's more interesting to list your specialties. Johann Ainsling."
"Yes, Captain!", barks a short, dark-haired man.
"You're a bright spark, aren't you? I've heard you helped to design the Spine of the World's Boundary Zone, which keeps us together 'in flight.' As a technician, your record is exemplary."
"Thank you, Captain!"
"Jerome Sinclair."
A silver-haired man bows slightly.
"You, I hear, have come up through the tradecraft program, specializing in asymmetrical warfare and assassination. If we find ourselves in Shadow-controlled territory, your skills could be invaluable."
He smiles. "Thank you, Captain."
"Finally, Edward Gardener."
He pushes up his glasses. "Yes, Captain!"
"You're from the political and xenocultural programs, yes? You're a smooth talker and a scientist both. Who knows what you have hiding in that brain of yours?"
He coughs. "Captain, you're too flattering."
You nod. "But you say 'Yes Captain' anyway. You three, dismissed. You have work to do as well."
They bow, and head off in the opposite direction to the first group.
"Lastly, the Earth group."
You look at the three who are left, two women and one man.
"Rose Crawford."
"Here, Captain." Your old friend from the Academy keeps her green eyes fixed forwards.
"It says here that you got top marks from technical school and have a perfect disciplinary record. Is this true?"
"Yes, Captain!"
"At ease." You look at the other two candidates.
"Leo Pullman," you say to the thin and lanky man.
He nods. "Yes, captain."
"You're a highly trained negotiator and diplomat, assigned in the hope of improving relations with our transdimensional allies, yes?"
"Yes, captain."
"Finally, we have you, Ashley."
"Ashley Haverness," she says. "Qualified with top ranks from the engineering school due to her ability to work under some of the hardest work conditions in the world and to improvise simple solutions from existing tools and materials. I know what my Academy file says as well as you do, Captain."
You half-smile, conceding the point. "Then I won't keep you here to listen to it. Dismissed; I'll come follow up with individual interviews soon."
They turn and start jogging away, and you smile.
You're in command of your ship.
After a moment's contemplation of that, you turn and head towards the spire yourself. You have to make sure she's shear-ready, after all. First component to check: the translation core.
As you step into the spire, the taste of metal in your mouth and the thrumming in your bones cuts out all at once, leaving you in silence with your own footsteps, as if all the rest of the world were gone already.
Descending to the translation core, anchored in the rock beneath the base of the spire, you step into a pleasantly cool room filled with banks of computers arrayed around the largest power crystal you've ever seen or possibly even heard of. It thrums, a gentle bass note that repeats every two seconds or so.
December looks up from one of the computers, and snaps off a salute. "Captain!"
You salute back. "At ease. Checking the engines?"
December nods. "And in case you worry about my skill in this critical area, captain, I want to assure you that I'm the best qualified on this vessel to do this. I was only passed over for Captain because of my condition, or so my friends in the Academy say."
"You condition. You mean the fits?"
December nods. "If it weren't for my fugues I would be a poorer woman, Captain, but the lack of control of them is…"
You nod sympathetically. "It's frustrating to feel like you've been ruled out because of something you had no control over."
"Yes, Captain. It's very frustrating."
"Well, I'll do my best to judge you fairly."
"Thank you, Captain."
You make sure of December's results in about twice the time it took her to produce them; by then she's long gone, off to another part of the ship. So. Second; the warding that holds the ship together.
The ward generators sit at the inner edge of the tear zone, protecting the spire from the violence that will be unleashed on reality by its engines. It's a short walk up and out from the engines, but it does put you back out into the metal-tasting ears-ringing translation zone. You fight back the urge to spit, and settle in at one of the silver-domed ward generators, half computer, half runic array. Let's see, diagnostic sequence twelve…
That's when you hear footsteps behind you. You turn, and see Johann.
"Oh," you say. "Of course you'd be checking the ward system."
He smiles. "Yes, Captain. It's my pride and joy, and I'm not going to let anyone else give the final word on it but me."
"You're a bit possessive of it, aren't you?"
"Yes, Captain. That would be because it's mine."
You laugh. "And the ship's, of course."
"And the ship's. But I designed and built this system. I know what's best for it."
"Excuse me if I don't take you at your word."
Johann shrugs. "Whatever you want. I'm done with this module."
You nod. "I'll do it the slow way."
"That's your right, Captain." Johann snaps off a salute and trots off towards the next generator.
The dark clouds are beginning to rumble by the time that you finish examining the ward generators, so you duck into the spire and lay your briefcase on a table in the command room. Next to check… the computer systems that hold scientific and cultural data. They're right here under this table, actually, masses of exposed wires digging into both circuitboards and violet power crystals.
You bring up the table's display, and tap through a number of key diagnostics on the crystalline surface; then Leo and Edward come in.
"Oh, Captain," says Leo, and they both salute.
"At ease," you say. "I've just been checking over the scientific and cultural databases. I take it you two are here for that as well?"
Edward nods. "Scientific for me, cultural for Leo."
"Then I'll leave you to it," you say, and pick up your suitcase again. You're beginning to crave some peace and quiet on this ship.
Having finished with the core subsystems of the ship, the order for the rest of the examination is up to you. So you choose the most quiet of all of them; raw materials storage, kept up on the fifth floor of the tower, far away from anything else.
After a cursory check to make sure that all the violet-glowing energy crystals are properly racked, you go out and stand by the window. Outside, the stormclouds roil, not yet raining, but threatening.
That's when Hannah comes up the ladder behind you.
"Oh, Captain!" She flushes. "I wasn't expecting to find you here. If you wanted to have the place to yourself…"
You sigh, and wave it off. "It's fine, I ought to be attending to my other duties anyway."
Hannah shrugs. "You can't always be a machine for the job. Leave that to the computers."
"I suppose I can see the logic in that."
"We're going to be together for a year before we ever see anyone else we know again. It's going to be a long mission. You can't stay a robot that long; believe me, I've tried."
"You seem awfully confident you'll make the grade."
"You seem awfully confident I won't."
"I'm the one who hands out the grades."
"And I'm going to win you over." Hannah smiles and bats her eyelashes.
"Get back to your post."
"Alright then, Captain."
Hannah descends back down her ladder, and leaves you alone again. You sigh. You'd be a hypocrite to stay here any longer, and it doesn't seem like you'd get any privacy anyway.
You climb down the ladder to the fourth floor, and find Jerome working on the miniature Tesla Cannons the Spine has for point defense.
"Of course an assassin would want to check their weaponry before starting a job."
Jerome turns and salutes crisply. "Of course, Captain. I wouldn't dream of leaving home without them."
"You're educated on the specs for these, then?"
"And I know their operation inside and out. Only a fool would fight with weapons he doesn't understand, and I am not a fool."
You nod. "About your business, then."
He salutes. "Captain."
You descend another floor, and find Valeris checking through the onboard analysis equipment. She doesn't look up. "Captain."
You nod. "How did you know it was me?"
"Reflection in the desk. Do you have something to say?"
"No, carry on."
"Yes, Captain."
Another few floors, and you come out next to Ashley, who's working on one of the four crystal-powered motorcycles.
"Captain," she says. "Just thought I could tune this up a bit more."
"Candidate," you say. "Carry on."
The one candidate that you actually want to see right now has escaped you; Rose is nowhere to be found.
Where would Rose be, you consider. Nowhere I've been… Checking the engineering tools?
You go and look, and sure enough, you find Rose taking stock of all the assorted engineering hardware on the ship, from pneumatic jacks to circular saws.
"Rose," you say.
"Captain," she replies coolly.
"It's been years since I last saw you."
"And now you've been promoted over me."
"I have."
"Strange old world, isn't it?"
You nod. "Strange indeed."
"I trust you not to show me too much favoritism for the Earth slot," she says. "Please don't disappoint me."
"Are you saying that the others are better qualified?"
"No, I'm saying take the person who you genuinely think will be best for the mission. I want to earn my way in, not be pushed in just because you know me."
You nod. "Alright."
"Is there anything else you need?"
"There is one thing," you say. "Final charging."
"You think we can catch this storm?"
"I think I want to see if we can."
"I'll call the crew."
"Meet me in the command center in five minutes."
You quickly make your way to the command center, and bring up the integrated command environment. Little tags of energy in all your crew's uniforms begin to sing out to you, and with a gesture, you command them all to gather before you. You hear the distant buzz of a phone, and smile to yourself.
The crew assembles inside five minutes, including Rose, and you get up from your command chair in order to speak.
"Final charging requires a storm to catch. This one is available. Let's catch it so that we don't have to wait for another one."
"Rose, Hannah. Manage the capacitor banks. December, Jerome. Manage the main power core. Valerie, you're on ritual duty as the last Lightning affinity; Leo, back her up with Earth. Johann and Ashley, you're managing the shields. Edward, make sure the computer system doesn't do anything it oughtn't. Everyone has their assignments? "
"Yes, Captain!"
"Let's move, people."
You, Leo and Valerie walk outside the Spine as you notice the clouds start pouring in earnest, the Spine's systems slowly gearing up to receive the power of the ritual. You can already smell the ozone in the air.
Johann calls to you from the shield generators: "We're ready!"
"Switch the shields on in Lure mode!"
With a crackle, the faint shimmer of the lightning rod field springs up around you, forming a channel for the coming lightning down towards the Spine. The Spine glistens brightly against the dark sky, insulated and ready to catch the coming charge.
As you watch, Leo and Valerie start whispering incantations under their breath, barely audible beneath the pitter-patter of the rain. You bring up your command interface, and check in by radio.
"Rose, Hannah, are you ready?"
"Ready, Captain!"
"December, Jerome, are you ready?"
"Ready, Captain!"
Leo and Valerie's incantations taper off.
You nod to Valerie. "You have the go signal."
Valerie smiles softly, and begins. "On this day, we create a ship unlike any before it, that can withstand being torn between the worlds."
The rumbling of the storm grows ever louder, faraway lightning flaring over the ritual space off and on.
"We forge a symbol of our mastery over the energy of this world, to go forth and gain yet more."
By now, from horizon to horizon, all you can see are storm clouds dark as dusk, constantly crackling with energy.
Leo steps up. "We stand here, as lords over the heavens and the earth."
Valerie answers. "We stand here as lords over the storm and the lightning."
Together, they complete the chant: "And we demand it answer our call!"
A flash burns through the clouds, shining painfully bright, and crashes down onto the Spine, engulfing the massive structure of the ship in a blinding pillar of electricity that slowly tapers off to nothing.
When you blink the afterimage from your eyes, the Spine of the World stands unburnt, crackling with new-caught power.
"Well," you say. "I guess it worked."
After the storm passes and a final diagnostic check has been run, you call out your nine candidates again to make your final decision on who will sail out on the first expedition of the Spine with you.
"For Lightning,"
[ ] December Morning-Glory
[ ] Hannah Ashford
[ ] Valerie Crawford
"For Metal,"
[ ] Johann Ainsling
[ ] Jerome Sinclair
[ ] Edward Gardener
"For Earth," you say,
[ ] Rose Crawford
[ ] Leo Pullman
[ ] Ashley Haverness
"The rest of you are relieved of duty and will return to the Academy within a week. Dismissed!"
Final Preparations
Evenstar
Triple Jump Unlocked
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You watch over the final provisioning of the Spine, the most delicate ritual components and other sensitive items coming aboard in cardboard boxes, along with the belongings and specialist equipment of the crew members you chose.
You smile slightly at the sight - normally missions beyond the supply lines weren't able to get anywhere near this level of support, but no expense was spared for the Spine and her crew. You should be able to function with minimal outside supply or rationing for the year spent away.
Out of the corner of your eye, you spot a grunt walking towards you with a box, a smooth chrome suitcase attached to the side of her slight frame.
You narrow your eyes slightly at that, and take a second look. Her suitcase doesn't even have an Academy logo on the side.
You take a deep breath as she walks over beside you. She nods to you, then leans in to place the case beneath you; your gaze tracks the motion of her hand as she goes for a concealed button in the case top.
Before she can press it, you punch her in the jaw.
"Fuck!", she swears - and she goes to pull her pistol. You're faster though; the blade of your hand slams into her neck, and she falls, stunned. You kick her in the teeth, then pull power from the nearby crystal to call a blast of electricity. The bolt earths itself in her gut, and she goes down.
"Assassin!" you bark. "Perimeter is compromised, go to Plan Black now!"
Your fellow crew-members rush to your side as you carefully pick up the case.
You undo the latch to reveal a half-dozen small kill drones, each a glossy black. All six of them carry guns beneath their folded-up rotors, ready to be unleashed at the holder's command.
December whistles. "That was a close one."
You close the case again, and hand it off to Ashley for disposal. "Definitely."
"What should we do about her?", December asks, pointing to the unconscious woman.
"She's Shadowtaken, most likely. Edward, go with December and haul her off for processing. The security grunts will know what to do."
"Yes, Captain!"
Once the debriefing over the assasination attempt is over, you sit Ashley down for the final 'get to know you' interview, taking a seat across the huge table in the conference room.
You take a moment to take in Ashley's form now that she's sitting in front of you on her own, watching the way that she naturally relaxes in her chair, the perpetually slightly-dirty platinum color of her hair, the half-engaged wandering and watching of her cyan eyes.
"Is this your standard interview to get to know me better 'off-the-record', Captain?"
There's a faint smile at the edges of her lips and a playful glint in her eyes, just small enough to be deniable, but large enough to make sure that you know it's there.
You nod. "It's important to be able to know and trust your comrades on the battlefield, especially on an operation as important as this."
She sighs and nods. "The stuff in the files is important, but, well…"
She draws out a screwdriver from her belt, and flicks it through her hands. "You can't just read the manual and know how something really works."
You hide your wince, and nod along.
"Captain, I know how to be professional, and I more or less am professional, but that doesn't mean I don't put people off sometimes with how I act. I play with the lines a little, and that doesn't work for everyone. And my repairs damn well work when you need them to, but I'm not exactly the type to revert it right back to factory condition. Frankly sir, if you wanted that, you should have chosen someone else. Just please… Don't think that you can just expect that everything will work as it says in the design specs, and don't expect that I can give you precise estimates of how long my work is going to take, sir."
You blink at her statement, then shrug. "I know we're going into unexplored territory on a brand new ship class. The unexpected is to be expected. That shouldn't be a problem, Crewman."
She nods back slowly, and smiles slightly. "Then I'm glad to serve under you, Captain."
You shake her hand, and dismiss her from the meeting.
As she walks away, you could swear that you hear her go tsk.
The next interview you have is with Edward, who strides into the room and takes a seat, reaching out his impeccably clean hand out for a shake. "I'm sure it will be a pleasure to get to know you better, Captain."
You shake his hand back, a little surprised at the confidence of his move. "And I expect it to be a pleasure to work more with you, Crewman. Could you tell me a little more about yourself and your work, beyond what it's in the file?"
His smile lights up, and you feel a slight pang of unease as you notice that his glasses make his eyes unreadable. "I'm glad you asked. I do my best work when I can get everything under control and do the work myself. I find it very important to be able to set the stage for a negotiation."
With a flick of his hand, a little shimmer of light travels up your clothes, adjusting their fit on your frame and smoothing out the slight wrinkles that accumulated throughout the day. You spend a moment settling back in your seat, and you can tell that it's just a little more comfortable to sit on.
He winks. "Don't tell anyone else, but with a bit of work I can do that nearly imperceptibly to a non-expert. These little things can work wonders, I tell you, even when they are just offered as a courtesy rather than slipped in."
He lounges back in his chair a little, thickly-gelled hair catching the light a little. "And I'm perfectly capable of serving any diplomatic function you need if you just say the word, and I have a doctorate in Political and Cultural studies for a reason."
He smiles widely.
You nod. "Thank you for sharing. Dismissed."
You interview December last. She sits leaning forwards toward you, her toned arms perched on the table; a light smile plays at the corners of her mouth, not quite materializing.
"Thank you for giving me a chance," she says. "The Academy has always been better than most, but I didn't dream I'd reach the top like this. An expedition to another world entirely."
She raises her eyebrows at you. "Another whole world. What we might find there, Captain, I'll leave to your imagination."
You nod. "We could find anything. Even a cure for your fits, perhaps."
She sighs. "Or a way to control them, yes. Whatever the case, I'm fascinated by the possibilities of these other worlds, though I'm less amused at being used as a pawn in the Shadow's games."
"What do you mean by that remark?"
"Permission to speak freely, Captain?"
"Granted." Letting her tell you about herself and her feelings is the point of this exercise, after all.
"If I'd had the chance to reach this mission by any other way than the academy, I would have taken it. I am not a military woman and I am not a soldier. I learned to be these things as a matter of survival, but I still resent those who forced them upon me.
"Sir."
"Crewman."
You give her a light salute. "Off the record, you're not the only one who's been used hard by the service. I know it's difficult to hold down the bitterness, but this is a military vessel and you'll obey orders, is that clear?"
"Yes, Captain."
"Good woman. You're dismissed."
After your round of interviews completes, you call your crew back into the conference room.
"There is one final matter," you say. "All the essentials have been loaded now, but the budgets were a little overconservative. We have some extra, unplanned space left on the ship."
Ashley smiles. "So we're going to use it for something, right?"
"Just so," you acknowledge. "The question is for what. There are five major subsystems we could allocate the space to; engineering, analysis, weapons, cargo, and scouting."
Edward pushes his glasses up. "I would prefer if the space were used on more analysis tools. You can never have too much information in a diplomatic situation."
December shakes her head. "I want the engineering tools I need in the field."
Ashley sighs. "Nah, you should be asking for more raw materials in cargo. We have all the tools we need to build what we want, but if we run out of power crystals..."
"Personally," you say, "I was intending to fill the space with additional weapons for the crew, especially after that assassination attempt. We could be going into hostile worlds overrun by the Shadows. I want to be ready for that."
"I can make weapons from raw materials given time and a workshop." says Ashley.
Edward huffs. "I rather think information is the best weapon we have, especially at the scale we are going to be working on - will a few dozen more guns across a planet really make more of a difference than more and better quality intelligence?"
December frowns. "I think mechanical failure is a more likely reason for us to not come back home. And besides, we're already trusting our allies by sending the Spine over to help them. I also think that having more weapons won't make much of a difference, especially given our magic is a passable weapon on its own."
You consider and nod. "Still, even small edges can be of the utmost importance on the battlefield. What about scouting? We could load a case of gyrocopter drones to give us a better idea of where we've landed."
"We're supposed to be touching down in safe, friendly locations," says Edward. "I'm much more concerned with making sure our friends are friendly, as opposed to finding them in the first place."
Ashley hums. "Not a bad idea if you're not going to stock raw materials. Having a better idea of the actual lay of the land could prove crucial - physically or otherwise."
December shrugs. "They're not the engineering tools I want, but they'd get me more information and I don't mind that."
"Thank you all for your opinions," you say. "My final decision is to allocate the additional space to…"
[ ] Engineering
[ ] Cargo
[ ] Analysis
[ ] Weapons
[ ] Scouting
You're sitting on your spartan bed aboard the Spine when someone knocks on the bulkhead door.
"Come in," you say, tensing a little bit; but it's just a green-haired grunt carrying a cloth sack.
"Last mail call," he says. "Do you have anything?"
[ ] Yes, I have a letter to my parents.
[ ] Yes, I have a letter to my Academy mentor.
[ ] Yes, I have a letter to my sister.
[ ] Yes, I have a letter to my brother.
[ ] Yes, I have a letter to my girlfriend.
[ ] Yes, I have a letter to Rose.
[ ] No, I have no-one to write to.
[ ] No, everything that needs to be said already has been.
You smile slightly at the sight - normally missions beyond the supply lines weren't able to get anywhere near this level of support, but no expense was spared for the Spine and her crew. You should be able to function with minimal outside supply or rationing for the year spent away.
Out of the corner of your eye, you spot a grunt walking towards you with a box, a smooth chrome suitcase attached to the side of her slight frame.
You narrow your eyes slightly at that, and take a second look. Her suitcase doesn't even have an Academy logo on the side.
You take a deep breath as she walks over beside you. She nods to you, then leans in to place the case beneath you; your gaze tracks the motion of her hand as she goes for a concealed button in the case top.
Before she can press it, you punch her in the jaw.
"Fuck!", she swears - and she goes to pull her pistol. You're faster though; the blade of your hand slams into her neck, and she falls, stunned. You kick her in the teeth, then pull power from the nearby crystal to call a blast of electricity. The bolt earths itself in her gut, and she goes down.
"Assassin!" you bark. "Perimeter is compromised, go to Plan Black now!"
Your fellow crew-members rush to your side as you carefully pick up the case.
You undo the latch to reveal a half-dozen small kill drones, each a glossy black. All six of them carry guns beneath their folded-up rotors, ready to be unleashed at the holder's command.
December whistles. "That was a close one."
You close the case again, and hand it off to Ashley for disposal. "Definitely."
"What should we do about her?", December asks, pointing to the unconscious woman.
"She's Shadowtaken, most likely. Edward, go with December and haul her off for processing. The security grunts will know what to do."
"Yes, Captain!"
Once the debriefing over the assasination attempt is over, you sit Ashley down for the final 'get to know you' interview, taking a seat across the huge table in the conference room.
You take a moment to take in Ashley's form now that she's sitting in front of you on her own, watching the way that she naturally relaxes in her chair, the perpetually slightly-dirty platinum color of her hair, the half-engaged wandering and watching of her cyan eyes.
"Is this your standard interview to get to know me better 'off-the-record', Captain?"
There's a faint smile at the edges of her lips and a playful glint in her eyes, just small enough to be deniable, but large enough to make sure that you know it's there.
You nod. "It's important to be able to know and trust your comrades on the battlefield, especially on an operation as important as this."
She sighs and nods. "The stuff in the files is important, but, well…"
She draws out a screwdriver from her belt, and flicks it through her hands. "You can't just read the manual and know how something really works."
You hide your wince, and nod along.
"Captain, I know how to be professional, and I more or less am professional, but that doesn't mean I don't put people off sometimes with how I act. I play with the lines a little, and that doesn't work for everyone. And my repairs damn well work when you need them to, but I'm not exactly the type to revert it right back to factory condition. Frankly sir, if you wanted that, you should have chosen someone else. Just please… Don't think that you can just expect that everything will work as it says in the design specs, and don't expect that I can give you precise estimates of how long my work is going to take, sir."
You blink at her statement, then shrug. "I know we're going into unexplored territory on a brand new ship class. The unexpected is to be expected. That shouldn't be a problem, Crewman."
She nods back slowly, and smiles slightly. "Then I'm glad to serve under you, Captain."
You shake her hand, and dismiss her from the meeting.
As she walks away, you could swear that you hear her go tsk.
The next interview you have is with Edward, who strides into the room and takes a seat, reaching out his impeccably clean hand out for a shake. "I'm sure it will be a pleasure to get to know you better, Captain."
You shake his hand back, a little surprised at the confidence of his move. "And I expect it to be a pleasure to work more with you, Crewman. Could you tell me a little more about yourself and your work, beyond what it's in the file?"
His smile lights up, and you feel a slight pang of unease as you notice that his glasses make his eyes unreadable. "I'm glad you asked. I do my best work when I can get everything under control and do the work myself. I find it very important to be able to set the stage for a negotiation."
With a flick of his hand, a little shimmer of light travels up your clothes, adjusting their fit on your frame and smoothing out the slight wrinkles that accumulated throughout the day. You spend a moment settling back in your seat, and you can tell that it's just a little more comfortable to sit on.
He winks. "Don't tell anyone else, but with a bit of work I can do that nearly imperceptibly to a non-expert. These little things can work wonders, I tell you, even when they are just offered as a courtesy rather than slipped in."
He lounges back in his chair a little, thickly-gelled hair catching the light a little. "And I'm perfectly capable of serving any diplomatic function you need if you just say the word, and I have a doctorate in Political and Cultural studies for a reason."
He smiles widely.
You nod. "Thank you for sharing. Dismissed."
You interview December last. She sits leaning forwards toward you, her toned arms perched on the table; a light smile plays at the corners of her mouth, not quite materializing.
"Thank you for giving me a chance," she says. "The Academy has always been better than most, but I didn't dream I'd reach the top like this. An expedition to another world entirely."
She raises her eyebrows at you. "Another whole world. What we might find there, Captain, I'll leave to your imagination."
You nod. "We could find anything. Even a cure for your fits, perhaps."
She sighs. "Or a way to control them, yes. Whatever the case, I'm fascinated by the possibilities of these other worlds, though I'm less amused at being used as a pawn in the Shadow's games."
"What do you mean by that remark?"
"Permission to speak freely, Captain?"
"Granted." Letting her tell you about herself and her feelings is the point of this exercise, after all.
"If I'd had the chance to reach this mission by any other way than the academy, I would have taken it. I am not a military woman and I am not a soldier. I learned to be these things as a matter of survival, but I still resent those who forced them upon me.
"Sir."
"Crewman."
You give her a light salute. "Off the record, you're not the only one who's been used hard by the service. I know it's difficult to hold down the bitterness, but this is a military vessel and you'll obey orders, is that clear?"
"Yes, Captain."
"Good woman. You're dismissed."
After your round of interviews completes, you call your crew back into the conference room.
"There is one final matter," you say. "All the essentials have been loaded now, but the budgets were a little overconservative. We have some extra, unplanned space left on the ship."
Ashley smiles. "So we're going to use it for something, right?"
"Just so," you acknowledge. "The question is for what. There are five major subsystems we could allocate the space to; engineering, analysis, weapons, cargo, and scouting."
Edward pushes his glasses up. "I would prefer if the space were used on more analysis tools. You can never have too much information in a diplomatic situation."
December shakes her head. "I want the engineering tools I need in the field."
Ashley sighs. "Nah, you should be asking for more raw materials in cargo. We have all the tools we need to build what we want, but if we run out of power crystals..."
"Personally," you say, "I was intending to fill the space with additional weapons for the crew, especially after that assassination attempt. We could be going into hostile worlds overrun by the Shadows. I want to be ready for that."
"I can make weapons from raw materials given time and a workshop." says Ashley.
Edward huffs. "I rather think information is the best weapon we have, especially at the scale we are going to be working on - will a few dozen more guns across a planet really make more of a difference than more and better quality intelligence?"
December frowns. "I think mechanical failure is a more likely reason for us to not come back home. And besides, we're already trusting our allies by sending the Spine over to help them. I also think that having more weapons won't make much of a difference, especially given our magic is a passable weapon on its own."
You consider and nod. "Still, even small edges can be of the utmost importance on the battlefield. What about scouting? We could load a case of gyrocopter drones to give us a better idea of where we've landed."
"We're supposed to be touching down in safe, friendly locations," says Edward. "I'm much more concerned with making sure our friends are friendly, as opposed to finding them in the first place."
Ashley hums. "Not a bad idea if you're not going to stock raw materials. Having a better idea of the actual lay of the land could prove crucial - physically or otherwise."
December shrugs. "They're not the engineering tools I want, but they'd get me more information and I don't mind that."
"Thank you all for your opinions," you say. "My final decision is to allocate the additional space to…"
[ ] Engineering
[ ] Cargo
[ ] Analysis
[ ] Weapons
[ ] Scouting
You're sitting on your spartan bed aboard the Spine when someone knocks on the bulkhead door.
"Come in," you say, tensing a little bit; but it's just a green-haired grunt carrying a cloth sack.
"Last mail call," he says. "Do you have anything?"
[ ] Yes, I have a letter to my parents.
[ ] Yes, I have a letter to my Academy mentor.
[ ] Yes, I have a letter to my sister.
[ ] Yes, I have a letter to my brother.
[ ] Yes, I have a letter to my girlfriend.
[ ] Yes, I have a letter to Rose.
[ ] No, I have no-one to write to.
[ ] No, everything that needs to be said already has been.