[Inaius] The Lone Battleship | Introduction of The Dutchman

The Dutchman

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The quiet dark void and the endless space where nothing and everything existed at the same time are filled with anything and sometimes none at all.

However, the loneliness of space are disturbed by a continuous vibration concentrated in a single spot, soon increasing rapidly as sound begins to echo from the source, eventually ripping the space itself into a hole with a black contents, spewing out unstable energy as the dimensional rift are expanding before suddenly stopping at a perfect circle with a large diameter, almost enough for something to pass in or out from it.

And something did appear from the rift.

A long hulking collection of rocks and metal are thrown out of the dimensional rift as it drift away from where it came from, debris following it's path as rocks and scraps flew out in the same direction, this is not just a simple wormhole, but a warp gate generated by whatever came out from it, looking back at the long silhouette, the object finally managed to stop spinning and stabilizing itself in a straight path, though soon enough begin to drift as smoke and pieces of rocks eroded off the object. Then there is a sound of three clicks before the rocks fell off the object, dispersing from whatever it sticked to, revealing a massive starship the size of a battleship, bigger than normal starships but smaller than most capital ships.

Alarms blared through the bridge, living beings put their hands onto the monitors as they groan in pain together, an electrical panel are blown out and spew sparks of electricity from their heads and most of the controls are damaged, one lone person stands up as light begins to shine into their darkened bridge, showing his eyes, mouth, ears and then his body. Humans.

"Everyone, check the internal comms and engine output, make sure we still have control of this ship, NVO, try to pinpoint our location from the nearest planet, Operations Officer, scan the radar for any threat that followed us to the warp!"

The human shouted clearly to his crew, he got up from his seat as his head started bleeding, "it hurts", he keep saying to himself, though he mustn't pass out now after everything he went through, the crew are working around their positions as they try to regain control, he stopped by the Operations Officer table where his legs collapsed, his crew tried to help him but he dismissed them, telling to get back into positions and guide them to safety.

The bridge doors are cut open by the security details as the medical team enters the bridge, they begin to treat the injured and wheeled the human out, leaving the control of the ship under the Executive Officer, as he passes by several shipcrews that are hurrying to secure the ship's integrity, he pass by a window overlooking the black warp gate made by the ship. His eyes widened as he saw a blue, green and white planet disappearing into the darkness and the warp gate collapsing right after he passed the window.

Gritting his teeth, he knew by now that the ship will now be alone.

[ Starship Coordinate: ??? ??? | ??? ??? ]
[ Nearest Star System: 34 light years away ]
[ Nearby Friendly IFF Sign: ??? ]


Two days have passed since the incident and now the ship is cruising along a supernova cloud, damage reported that almost 70% of the ship has lost its combat capabilities and most of the guns are disabled. Engine capacity level are always on the edge and often stalls, requiring a 4 hours shut down to cool down the core before continuing, the radars are half repaired and are unable to properly chart the radius of 20 light years or more away, the highest ranking officers are convening inside the medical bay with the Commanding Officer, who is eating a ham sandwich while the others are brainstorming ideas, the silence is broken when someone raised their hand.

"Second Tactical Officer Kaylene Edwards. Since most of our systems are down including the MCAT, our unlimited provision for the crew will be running out in around three more days if we impose rations, but after the destruction of our armada as a whole in the battle for the moon, the ship's morale is at an all time low too. I don't believe we are near any star system recognizable based on the solar output from the nearest star, or the next one… or the next"

"Your point being?" The executive officer interjects, crossing his arms as he leans against the table.

"I'm saying that we might have overwarped beyond what our warp engine can produce, we simply overshoot Jupiter, the Solar System and Lalande." She explains, taking a deep breath to finally let out her theory.

"I think we're not even in the Milky Way. Or Andromeda, I think we warped over and shot right through the observable universe sir. We're in a space where everything is alien to us." She finally finish her theory, making other officers widen their eyes in disapproval or shock, the Commanding Officer meanwhile looks at the ceiling before returning back to his mind.

"Surely in this alien space, we should find someone or something to begin with, the resources we need to repair the ship are here, but the necessary manpower for it is gone in the first ambush." He explains the situation, stating that there should be a possibility of another alien race than the one they're up against, most of the people are skeptical, but the Navigation Officer seems a little bright, catching his attention.

"Sir. What if we send out a distress signal?" He blurts out his idea, which results in others to lash out at him quickly.

"Do you remember what they did to Mars when we first met them there?! You surely don't want another planet bombing yourself do you?!"

"We can't trust these aliens! They're barbaric! They focuses on conquest so much that they will genodice us if it means so!"

"Even if that's so, there are other races that might help us! Like the ones who gave us the ma-"

"STOP!"

The entire room went silent, the Commanding Officer shouted on top of his lungs as he stood his body on the bed, sternly looking at the occupants of this room before breaking down in a coughing fit. After helping him to get some rest, the officers exchanged silent glares and looks before surrendering their plans, all of them eventually agreeing to the Navigation Officer idea. The ship then commands the repair team to fix the communication antenna, taking them about a day to do so as the ship grinds to a halt. The engine is on its last breath and all energy is now directed towards the communication room and the relay antenna. After preparations are complete, the ship sends out a distress signal with wavelength powerful enough that it travels for billions of light years away. In the signal it included:

"Mayday! Mayday! This is the Terran Expeditionary Force Fleet ship of the United Earth Federation hailing with callsign "The Dutchman!" Our starship received heavy damage and is drifting into a supernova without power, locating our position by triangulating the signal source. We will be waiting. Mayday! Mayday!"

Beyond that distress signal, nothing came from the starship anymore, it is dark, no lights or activity as the engine finally came to its ends. The Commanding Officer stands inside his captain's quarters, looking out of the window as he rubs a metal ring on his ring finger.

"I'll be back honey."
 
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