Runesmith: A Science Fantasy Action Quest

[Spectral Waltz]

"Copy Sera?"

You ignore the voicecaster crackling at your belt and stare out at the stars, smoke curling gently around you from the lit incense at your feet.

You aren't supposed to be here, and you know it.

But you don't have to worry, because no one else ever will.

The massive starborne city, Sunsail Princess, hums. Its runes shine under their bands of gold, making the edges of the metal where it meets the Senwood hull glow with an electric blue light as they do their work. Its engines purr, idly carrying the ship through the void at the outer reaches of Aetheria's atmosphere, slowly pushing you into higher orbit.

You feel the point of transition approaching, the current tugging at the vessel as it noses into its area of impetus, and you spare one last glance at the planet below. The Imperial capital in all its splendor shining like a jewel against the darkness of the planetary night. As you rise a little further, you catch the sun's rays coming over the horizon, making you squint before the glass tints itself to protect your vision.

"Sera?" Your fingers itch with the urge to just turn the caster off but you can't, not unless you want to get in trouble. Well... More trouble anyways...

You just want to stand here, and watch existence blur as the ship sets forth into the stars, but you can't.

You have a job to do.

"Sera I swear to-!" You feel your lips tug upwards and see your teeth reflected in the darkened glass as you hold down the button, cutting her off and prompting a squeal of feedback from the voicecaster that you just know was worse on her end than yours.

You release the button, lift the communicator to your lips and click again before she can recover from the surprise. "I'm here Shan. 'Something wrong?"

"Took you long enough! Where are you?!"

You sigh and kneel to pick up the incense bowl, delicately turning the stick over in your fingers to plunge the glowing tip into the sand, smothering its flame. No sense wasting it after all. "...On my way to Senge now." You slurred the acronym CEng into a single word -mostly out of habit- as you splayed your fingers against a wall panel and then pulled them together, the motion dragging the access overlays into view as the reactive material verified your fingerprints to open the hatch.

"Forget that, head to storage three instead." You raised an eyebrow as you stooped to enter the hatchway. You didn't know if it was product of your birth or just a happenstance of your genes but you were just a little bit taller than Aetherians could usually boast, tall enough that these passageways and their access paths simply weren't quite designed to accommodate you. "We've got some funny readings from a few of the aft plates. Make sure they're safe before we hit the current's edge."

"Got it." A quick rap on a loose panel inside the tunnel loosened it, and slim fingers pried it away, opening the little space behind it. Quietly you stashed the incense bow before closing it behind you and setting off at a trot. "Have a list ready for me when I get there. Sera out."

-+-+-+-

"Where have you been anyways?"

You contemplated ignoring the question as you ducked through a hatch into one of the vertical shafts that connected the many levels of the ship's underbelly and decided against it. "Sera I swe-"

"Don't you have other little worker bees to coordinate Shan?" You stepped off the ledge, letting yourself begin to fall through the distorted space, the floor numbers passing by you in a near blur. You didn't need to read them, just wait for the right moment...

You stuck your hand out and immediately your fall slowed. 43... 42... 41... 40! You reached out further and grabbed the little handle that presented itself beneath the number, swinging down and into another passageway as normal gravity reasserted itself around you. "Everyone else is already doing their jobs 'Sunsail'." You grit your teeth at the mocking reminder of your last name. "Just because you're 'Firstborn' doesn't mean you get to slack off."

"No." You agree as the passage gives way to a catwalk over Storage three, the third of five massive holds that carry almost everything the Princess citizens and visitors need to live for the next few months in the void. "I get to slack off because I'm the best rune engineer you have and I can do all the work in half the time it would take anyone else." You hang a left at an intersection, boots clanging as you hurry. To say you could do stuff in half the time it took others was no empty boast, but at the same time entering a current between systems was no easy task.

A few glitchy runeplates might be nothing of consequence. Or they might be the flaws that would let the ship shake itself apart under the stress of entry, and for all your flippancy and your general dislike for Shan, this place was still your home, your birthplace.

Serastania Sunsail, firstborn of the Void.

The first Aetherian conceived, carried, and brought into the universe in the darkness between the stars themselves. The first to bear the citizenship of a vessel rather than a planet and city.

Sure enough, a slate with the plate locations and a harness loaded with inscription gear were waiting for you at the engineering station. Shan on the other hand was nowhere to be seen. Must have been called away for some other job. You checked the slate as you shrugged the harness on over your coveralls. Two minor plates were displaying anomalous energy flows and one of the connected major plates had gone dark.

You clicked the voicecaster once more. "Got the list Shan. I'll handle them." She didn't answer, and you set off again at a steady job, heading back towards the vertical shaft you'd just come from. Probably busy making someone else' life miserable for a while. Good.

You moved to fix...

[] The glitchy minor plates first. They should be easier and faster.
[] The darkened major plate first. That's the more important one after all.

 

[Spectral Waltz]

[X] The glitchy minor plates first. They should be easier and faster.

You stepped into the lift again and kicked off as you entered it, feeling it pull you downwards and then swing upwards suddenly as you crossed into the rising half of the shaft. You kept one hand out, keeping your steady rise to a manageable pace as you counted the decks again, angling yourself upwards a little as you approached '50' so that when you pulled yourself out of the rising current you swung down evenly rather than wrenching your arms on accident.

Then you set off at a quick jog, making for the first of the two malfunctioning minor plates.

The minor plates were internal runic matrices that directed the flow of power through the Princess. There were thousands of them across the vessel, and while malfunctions were rare, they occasionally did occur. Damage or dust could mar the symbols that governed a runeplate's function, causing minor issues or even shutting them down entirely if the system became overwhelmed.

The system as a whole was complex enough that a few dozen plates going down or glitching out in a day wouldn't actually cut power to any systems. Or at least it shouldn't... Especially not to something like a main plate. The main plates were the sections of runes inscribed on the inside of the golden bands that ran the length and breadth of the ship. The shielding, sealing, and structural integrity they provided through their medium was absolutely crucial to keeping the city starborne and functional.

They should have dozens of backup systems to keep them from losing power, if not hundreds for some of the larger matrices.

While the two minor plates you'd been directed to were directly connected to the darkened major plate. Their glitches shouldn't have been enough to put it out of commission...

You snapped out of your thoughts as you arrived at the correct corridor and pulled the access overlay for an adjacent systems panel into view, verifying yourself to it.

The systems panel opened, and displayed the malfunctioning plate.

You went still.

There was no trace of dust buildup or smudging on the plate in front of you, but at the same time it was very clear what had gone wrong.

A single rune had been simply gouged from the metal. Three furrows in the soft gold distorting the shape and meaning of the governing symbol almost beyond legibility.

Sabotage...

You grabbed for your voicecaster. "Shan copy." You almost forgot to release the talk button as you slammed the access panel closed. You needed to get to the major rune now. No... You needed to get them to alter course and move away from the current entirely. Something was wrong here. "Shan!"

Dead silence answered you. Furiously you tabbed the signal frequency. "Security this is Engineering, Copy?"

Silence again.

"Is anyone there?!"

You cursed, slamming the access back into place. You'd need a replacement to fix this kind of damage and without any way to communicate there was no way you could have one delivered fast enough. Besides... Right now there were more important things to worry about. Not just the single major plate being unpowered, but the sudden silence on all frequencies, the damage you'd just seen...

You turned and ran for...

[] Storage three engineering station. That's where you gather in the event of an emergency and this probably qualifies as an emergency!
[] The Major Runeplate. Those things are too big to be offlined by a few scratches like this was. Maybe you can still fix it!
[] The Common Areas. You need to make them abort current entry, and with the voicecaster down the only way to get a message to the bridge is by runner.

 

[Spectral Waltz]

[x] The Major Runeplate. Those things are too big to be offlined by a few scratches like this was. Maybe you can still fix it!

Your mind raced. Sending a runner to the bridge could get them to abort the entry but you'd need to make it to the passenger decks first, and then find someone in person rather than just calling it in, unless the voicecasters up there were still working. On the other hand, clear protocol for emergency situations like this was first to assemble at the closest hub area for your department, but that would take you away from the problem itself that you did know about, and if you waited for them to authorize a fix, you might end up waiting too long.

No... You have to try and fix the Runeplate first.

You break into a sprint, leaping through the narrow hatchways as you tear down the maintenance corridors. Practically diving into the downwards stream of a shaft, arrowing towards the lower decks as the floors blur by before whipping your hand out at the last minute. The muscles of your arm and shoulder scream pain through you as you swing too fast and too hard onto Deck 23 but there's no time to stop and assess your injury. You just keep running, skidding as you round a corner, then beelining for the hull.

Finally you slide to a halt, slapping your palm against the Senwood and panting for breath as the access shutter for the plate you want slowly folds open. Come on... Hurry up already. You stare at the runes that slowly reveal themselves before you. Three major glyphs inscribed deeply into the heavy gold, governing a small portion of the Princess' Shields, Coherency, and Reaction Thrust.

Inscribed around, between, and within them are hundreds of lesser runes, governing and regulating specific functions. For a moment you just stare at them, trying to take them all in at once, feeling despair well up inside you at the sheer scale of the task before you. What if you were wrong? What if the minor plates were the key? What if there was nothing here to fix at all?

Stop.

You admonish yourself, closing your eyes for a moment, counting your breaths. In for Seven, Hold for Seven... You release the air in a sigh and look again, carefully raking your eyes over the runes once more.

There. Three runes in the centre of the plate, all defaced by the same three-pronged cuts as the minor plates. The power governors that kept all the power working. But... Taking them out shouldn't stop the power entirely unless...

Unrestricted flow...

You would be impressed if you weren't so irritated. They cut off the runes that regulated the power, then caused a surge somehow. The two minor plates... Scratch that, they caused a surge by overloading the minor plates, prompting the Major plate to shut itself off to avoid damage since the regulators that would normally handle such surges were offline.

Someone had used the Plate's own failsafes against it, which meant that they were either Geniuses like yourself, or they had prior understanding of the Princess runework.

Either way... They hadn't counted on you.

[] Fix the regulator runes and reactivate the plate.
It'll take a little while, but you'll make the jump safely with time to spare. Worry about who did this and why afterwards once you're safely on the move.

[] Hijack the Major Plate's propulsion interface runes to send a message to the bridge.
Warn them that something is wrong and that they should abort the Current Entry. You need to get to the bottom of this before you go anywhere.

 

[Spectral Waltz]

Runic Theory and Runes themselves are a subject as complicated as it is broad, and yet, for all the myriad runic 'languages', properties, and interactions out there, the most basic principles of the subject can be boiled down into a single sentence.

A Rune is a symbol that takes in energy from around it and then makes use of that energy in order to accomplish a specific effect.

'Energy' is broad enough as it is. A rune set in a streambed can take power from the rush of the water overtop of it. A rune in a field can absorb sunlight, or the movement of the wind, though neither are particularly efficient. A rune carved into or held by a human can be charged through -for lack of a better term- the vitality of it's 'wielder'. All of those are examples of how early runic sages made use of their power, and while science has since refined the practice, the core principles remain the same, the only truly important change has been the ability to transfer energy from one rune into another.

The 'Effect' on the other hand is -in a single word- 'complicated'. A rune of flame will create fire, but the nature of that fire can be altered by any number of factors without even beginning to touch on the existences of Runic Matrices, cluster of runes that work together as a single unit, all activating at once. If a rune of flame were activated and then moved while it worked, the created fire could be 'thrown' by the motion. Or It might change depending on what material it had been carved into. A rune of flame carved into wood will -in most cases- cause the wood itself to burst into flame, whereas carved in Stone it would produce the flame above the centre of the rune, and carved into a ruby that flame would become a stream of fire he direct the rune was facing, or a direction specified by the rune itself.

So yes... Complicated is putting it lightly.

 

[Spectral Waltz]

[X] Hijack the Major Plate's propulsion interface runes to send a message to the bridge.

You swallowed thickly. You could fix this, and with time to spare before you hit the main body of the Current to boot, but was that really what was important? Did you really want the ship going interplanetary with whoever did this still aboard?

For all you know they could have taken a lifeboat once the communications were cut, but you can't be sure...

No. You need to move faster. Fixing this wouldn't be slow, but it wouldn't be fast either.

You reached for your tools and got to work. The plate was dead, devoid of power, but its outbound channels were still connected. Only the energy reception points had been cut off by the failsafe. It would be a one way message, but you could at least make sure that it was sent, and hope that they understood it.

First, to isolate the controls. You cut quickly, crude work, sloppy, but then, it didn't need to be neat. You took the runes that connected to the bridge to manage the activation and deactivation of the attitude thrust and severed them from the rest of the matrix. It would be much harder to repair the whole thing now, but it was this or failure. You had Crystal Batteries on you in order to energize dead runeplates but they wouldn't be enough to fully activate a Major plate, let alone to keep it running for any length of time. You could supplement with your own body's life energy but that probably wouldn't last much longer. The sheer difference in scale was just too great.

So if you couldn't activate the whole plate, you just had to isolate the part you needed and activate only that. Hence the mutilation of the beautiful design.

The sacrifices you made in the name of safety, sanity, and survival...

With the right section isolated, you pulled out the Crystals. Little glass gems with Runes shaped inside of them, meant to hold energy in place until it was needed. Carefully you pressed them to the plate, watching as the runes you'd isolated began to glow with the power trickling into them.

Carefully you added a second crystal, then a third, the last thing you needed was for this to be interrupted.

On... Off... On... On... Off...

You waited as the flashed out the message. A Crude old code, back from the days before you breached the first currents and spread across the stars, but one that everyone know. Dot and Dash, sequences of letters, spelling out the message.

SABOTAGED PLATES. VOICECASTERS DOWN. DANGER. ABORT APPROACH AND DIVERT COURSE.

Now you just had to hope that they understood...

You repeated the message... The first battery starting to go black, and the second starting to flicker as the minutes ticked away. Repeat again...

The third battery was almost out when you felt it, a subtle shift in the vibrations underfoot. A little change in the Princess cant.

If it had been anyone else, they probably wouldn't have noticed, but you breathed out, a long slow sigh. They'd heard you, or at the very least they'd heard someone...

But that left the more pressing problem. Who did this? And Why?

Footsteps sounded at the edge of hearing, rapidly approaching, you turned to peer out through the nearby hatch.

[] "Hello..?"
[] Hide and Ambush
[] Run for it.

 

[Spectral Waltz]

[X] Hide and Ambush

You duck out of sight, no time to clean up. The plate is still open, a few of your tools are still scattered around, but the footsteps are getting closer, muttering too, indistinct through the plates, then becoming clear as they cross the bulkhead in front of you into the corridor. The voice sounds familiar you realize, and the black uniform and red hair are unmistakable.

"-nd of course she's left a godsdamne-."

"Shan?!"

"GAH!"

You watch as your section head nearly jumps into the plate in surprise and stifle a snicker at the ungainly flailing as she tries to regain her balance. "Sera?! What in the darks are you doing?" She regains her footing, steadies herself, and then her voice rises a further octave as she notices your handiwork. "And what have you done to the plate?!"

"Sabotage!"

She gapes at you for a moment, her hand twitching and you realize what you just said. "No I mean it was sabotaged! Someone deliberately cut the power to it! I was was jury rigging it to send a message to the bridge so that they would divert course!" You find yourself suddenly quite aware that Shan has a stun pistol at her hip, not issued to anyone but security normally. She doesn't seem inclined to shoot you fortunately, at least, not now anyways. You have a feeling she might have earlier if not for your quick recovery and explanation.

Shan's face works through a few expressions before settling on one of serious concern. "So you already know."

"Actually..." You grin sheepishly. "All I know is that there's sabotage. I don't know why, or what else is going on. The Voicecasters are down."

She nods, and then her gaze slips away from yours, down and to one side. "There are intruders in Cargo three. They killed two of the other engineers who were mustering there."

"Ah..." You'll admit, you didn't know the others very well, kept to yourself mostly, but knowing that two of your team are dead is chilling, and knowing that you could have easily joined them if you'd gone to muster when you'd become aware of the emergency you could be too is even more so. Or perhaps you might have been lucky enough to arrive too late...

Well... 'lucky' anyways...

You glance back to the plate. Your batteries are dead now, wholly drained from powering your little communique to the bridge. "We have changed course at least, and Captain should know that there are intruders aboard." That's right Sera, focus on the now, you can dwell on your own mortality later. "You have any Batteries?" Shan shakes her head and you frown. "Then I won't be able to get another message to the bridge..."

"There's a security checkpoint not far from here, we could grab weapons and try to stop them?"

"Do you even know how many there are?"

Shan thinks for a moment. "I saw three, but they were talking with others. Still, we have the element of surprise."

"Or..." You point out. "We could go get security. Some of them have to be on their way. Shouldn't be hard to find them."

Shan folds her arms. "And let them do what they want while we wait? We may not have time for that Princess."

[] Go with Shan, getting security will simply take too long.
[] Forget this, go get security, if Shan wants to do something stupid she can do it alone.